Advertisers, not strangers, now top the list of what worries American parents most about their teenagers' lives online. A new survey from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, conducted with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, finds that 81 percent of parents of online teens are concerned about how much information advertisers can gather about their child's digital behavior. That figure edges out worries about strangers, reputation management, and even future academic or employment consequences.
Data Collection Tops the List of Parental Worries
The report, titled "Parents, Teens and Online Privacy," surveyed 802 parents and their teenage children between July and September 2012. Beyond concerns about advertising, 72 percent of parents worry about their child's interactions with strangers online, while 69 percent are anxious about both reputation management and the long-term consequences of a teen's digital footprint on academic or job prospects. These anxieties are sharpest among parents of younger teens, aged 12 to 13, many of whom are only beginning to understand how tools like encryption, privacy settings, or even obfuscation and stealth servers can shape who sees what online. As families become more aware of these mechanisms, the gap between technical literacy and parental concern becomes harder to ignore. obfuscation and stealth servers
From Worry to Action: How Parents Are Responding
Concern is translating into behavior. Half of all parents surveyed have used parental controls or monitoring tools, a figure that has held steady since the previous year. Forty-two percent have searched their child's name online to check what information is publicly visible, and 44 percent say they have read privacy policies for sites or platforms their teen uses. Among parents of teens active on social networking sites, 59 percent have spoken directly with their child about something posted online, and nearly 40 percent have helped set up privacy settings. These numbers suggest that many parents are not simply observing from a distance but actively shaping how their children manage personal information in public digital spaces.
Parents Join the Platforms Their Children Use
Perhaps the clearest sign of changing norms is that parents themselves are becoming heavier users of social media. Sixty-six percent of parents with teens aged 12 to 17 now use a social networking site, up from 58 percent the year before. Younger parents, those under 40, are far more likely to participate, with 82 percent active on such platforms compared to 61 percent of parents over 40. Half of parent users say they have commented directly on something their teen posted, reflecting a shift from passive monitoring to visible, participatory engagement. As Sandra Cortesi of the Berkman Klein Center's Youth and Media Project notes, teens themselves have mixed reactions, ranging from welcoming parental presence to quietly restricting what family members can see.
A Broader Policy Question Emerges
Mary Madden, a co-author of the report, points to a wider policy debate taking shape around how governments should regulate an economy where personal data, including that of minors, is routinely collected and monetized. Parental concern about advertising now rivals or surpasses worry about more traditional online risks, suggesting that data privacy has become a mainstream family issue rather than a niche technical one. As digital tools for both surveillance and protection grow more sophisticated, the conversation between parents, teens, and policymakers is likely to intensify rather than fade.
