Parents just want to talk to their kids
AUSTRALIAN parents overwhelmingly believe children should be allowed to wear smartwatches in school, according to a new survey.
The survey of 1000 parents of primary school age children found 72 per cent in favour.
The research was carried out on behalf of wearables company SPACETALK to assess the response of parents faced with school technology bans by education departments across the country.
More than half of the parents surveyed (52 per cent) said it was important to be able to contact their child while they were at school; 16 per cent try to message their child almost daily while they are at school and more than half (58 per cent) would use a phone or text feature to contact their child directly at least once a day if they could. The top three reasons parents contact their child are to confirm they are safe, inform them of a change of plans, or to get an update on how their day is going.
Mark Fortunatow, chief executive officer of SPACETALK’S parent company MGM Wireless, said the report revealed legitimate concerns about a parent’s ability to get in touch with their younger children.
“The feedback we get from educators and caregivers is that children’s safety is of paramount concern,” Mr Fortunatow said.
“We developed SPACETALK as an all-in-one smartwatch phone that doesn’t give children access to social media and the internet, which the data shows is among parents’ greatest concerns.”