Australian parents are now more worried about their children using social media and technology than drugs, alcohol and smoking - a recent survey has found.
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A study of more than 900 Australian parents of children aged from 12-18 by ReachOut saw them rank cyberbullying as the biggest negative with social media use.
The results found that more than 40 per cent of parents were worried about their child’s social media and technology use.
Almost half of mums and dads were also equally concerned about the negative impacts of social media and technology use on their children.
This is compared to the 25 per cent of parents holding concerns about traditional risks to young people around alcohol, drugs and smoking.
When asked specifically to name their top negatives with social media, parents nominated cyber bullying and harassment as their biggest negative.
Parents also reported their children overwhelmingly turned to them for help with handling bullying cases despite over half not being fully-confident of where to seek help.
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