As students start new lives at university this autumn, UK parents are left to understand technology without their children’s help.
Over a third (39%) of parents who are tech novices and have children at college or university admit to struggling with daily tech challenges without their children’s support. In an era of family members frequently asking ‘can you just reset the router’ or ‘can you just set up emails on my new phone’, parents may find life more difficult once their offspring have left the nest.
Heading off to university is an exciting experience. It’s an opportunity for young people to become more independent and create lifelong friendships. However, research from Kaspersky has discovered that students may still be lumbered with being the family IT guru, despite leaving home. In fact, half (50%) of parents who are tech novices and have children at college or university admit to calling them on the phone for remote tech support. One in five (19%) of these parents have even stated they miss their children’s IT support more than their company when they are not around.
Young people have accepted their role as the ‘go-to’ person for advice, with 60% of tech-savvy students saying they are often asked to help family members with technology. Students are also conflicted about how responsible they should be in helping their parents. While many may not want to be pestered, four-in-ten (43%) students have at least one worry regarding their parents’ ability to do tech tasks or risk being a victim of fraud when they are not around. This figure rises to 54% among young people[1].
The truth is, if the child at university cannot help, then it is highly likely that some parents will ask their younger siblings instead. Nine-in-ten (89%) of parents who admit to not knowing a lot about technology and have children at university or college still rely on asking younger family members for tech support.
“It is no secret that our dependence on technology has led to many consumers – both young and old – being faced with the challenge of having to learn how to use new devices and services quickly. Technology changes rapidly and keeping pace with it can be difficult. While young people may feel their parents are over-reliant on them, this can only be overcome if they share their knowledge and empower family members to become self-sufficient. At Kaspersky, we appreciate that cybersecurity can appear complicated at first, but the right advice and guidance can go a long way to helping every generation go about their online activity safely,” explains David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky.
“The human race is never wholly comfortable with change. We can be suspicious, rigid and often wonder why we need to change something that appears to be working well for us. Our need to protect our vulnerable sense of getting older or feeling exposed by our lack of understanding swiftly presents itself as a rejection of the need for change or instead by a vortex of despair or abdication around no longer being able to keep up. There is a striking need for consumers to feel more knowledgeable about how to gain greater protection on devices and how to utilise adequate security software to ensure their details and activity stay safe,” adds Kathleen Saxton, psychotherapist.
The full ‘Can you just’ report, which examines the differences between how younger and older generations use technology, can be accessed here. Kaspersky has also created a series of ‘Can you just’ guides, to empower the older generation to arm themselves against tech knowledge gaps and cyberattacks. It can be accessed here.
Research methodology
An online survey of 2,000 UK adults aged 17+ with nationally representative quotas set for gender, age and region conducted by independent market research agency, Arlington Research
[1] Respondents aged 17-24 years old
