In a study on parenting strategies and online adolescent safety, the researchers from Pennsylvania State University found that parents should try to establish a middle ground between keeping their teenage kids away from internet and not monitoring their online activities at all.
"Overly restrictive parents limit the positive online experiences a teenage boy or girl can have but overly permissive parents are not putting the right types of demands on their children to make good choices," explained Pamela Wisniewski, a post-doctoral scholar in information sciences and technology at Pennsylvania State University.
Active mediation and monitoring online behaviour - not blanket rules - may be a better strategy.
