L.G. did a mobile phone survey and found some interesting results about parents and teens:
Activities
- 28 percent of parents admit to engaging in some form of “sexting” and 43 percent of teens admit to doing the same.
- Almost half of all parents and teens surveyed admit to texting and driving.
- 42 percent of parents admit to texting someone while at the dinner table; whereas 69 percent of teens admit to texting at the dinner table.
- 38 percent of parents admit to texting during the middle of the night; whereas, 83 percent of teens admit to texting during those hours.
Awareness
- 45 percent of teens admit to texting and driving. And only 4 percent of parents believe their teens ever text while driving.
- 43 percent of teens admit to putting someone down or insulting them in a text, while only 10 percent of parents believe their teens had ever participated in this type of hurtful behavior.
- 41 percent of teens admit to sending, receiving, or forwarding a text that said something sexual, while only 11 percent of parents thought their teens had ever sexted.
- 52 percent of teens admit to checking someone else’s texts or having had their texts checked by someone without permission, while only 8 percent of parents thought their teens had ever participated in this behavior.
Interestingly “41 percent of teens admit to sending, receiving, or forwarding a text that said something sexual” but 43 percent “engaging in some form of ‘sexting'”. I would think sending, receiving or forwarding would result in a much higher percentage. I can’t find any information about the methodology of the survey to help clarify this discrepancy.
Back in my day you had to draw yourself on a piece of paper and walk it over. When it resulted in laughing we called the return trip “the walk of shame”.
Good luck sleeping tonight parents. Kids.