Majority of Moms Credit Technology With Positive Impact on Family Life, According to Parenting Magazine/BlogHer Study

Joint study of moms' social media behavior and opinions on children's technology usage reveals new findings on the effect of technology on parenting behavior

Survey results announced at 2010 BlogHer conference in conjunction with the launch of the Parenting/BlogHer Must-Read Moms initiative, a celebration of outstanding writing on parenting blogs

News provided by

Bonnier Corp.'s Parenting Group

Aug 06, 2010, 09:34 ET

NEW YORK, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Bonnier Corp.'s Parenting Group, publisher of Parenting, Babytalk and Conceive magazines, and BlogHer, Inc., the leading participatory news, entertainment and information network for women online, today announced the results of a study of 1,032 moms on the effect of technology on parenting behavior. The study was jointly conducted by Parenting's MomConnection research network and BlogHer's Publishing Network.  The survey was developed in conjunction with Parenting and BlogHer's new Must-Read Moms program, an annual editorial feature celebrating outstanding mom blog writing that will appear in the September issue of Parenting magazine, on Parenting.com, and on BlogHer.com.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100806/NY46818LOGO)

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100806/NY46818LOGO)

Parenting and BlogHer found that the majority of moms surveyed have a very positive view of technology's role in fostering communication and connections within their families:

  • 87% agree that understanding new technology is important to stay connected with their children.
  • 70% feel that technology can provide great ways for families to spend time together.
  • 83% care about new technology because of the benefits it brings to their everyday lives.

While many of the moms surveyed are receptive to their families' use of technology, most also believe parents should have an important role in setting limits for their children:

  • 88% want to keep up on new technology so that they can monitor what their kids are doing, and the majority of moms are using a variety of parental controls to do so.  
  • Moms are much more likely to monitor their children's digital activities with their knowledge than without.
  • 94% are likely to set time limits on their kids' usage of the internet and technology; and 95% are likely to set content limits.  
  • Moms do see threats to their children…from both the Internet and television, but they don't believe those fears have been realized: Only 5% report believing that their children have ever been engaged in addictive online behavior like excessive gaming, only 4% believe their kids have viewed pornography online, and less than 1% believe their kids have participated in cyber-bullying, sexting or inappropriate online communication with adults.  

Corroborating findings BlogHer first reported in 2006, women still find money to be the most taboo subject they could share online. Regardless of the medium they use – Facebook, Twitter, message boards or blogs – respondents were twice as likely to discuss parenting and work/family balance issues online than topics related to their financial situation.  

"The results of this survey were very encouraging," said Nancy Hallberg, chief strategy officer of The Parenting Group.  "Today's moms are not fearful of technology and its growing role in their family's lives – they view it not only as a tool to connect with other moms, but as a way to communicate with their children and teach them responsible ways to interact online.  This mindset provides marketers and content developers with an enormous opportunity to help educate moms about the ways to use technology to their advantage as parents."

"Just like television, digital technology is a massive advantage and challenge for parents, and moms who blog are on the cutting edge of sharing advice, techniques and the latest trends on what works and doesn't with kids," said Lisa Stone, co-founder and CEO of BlogHer Inc.  "Whether a parent is educating young children on how and how not to use Internet games, or deciding when to allow a child to open a Facebook account, we find moms are turning to each other online and to brands directly to make the best decisions for their families."

An Executive Summary of the survey, including methodology can be found at:

http://www.blogher.com/files/2010_BlogHer_Parenting_Research_0.pdf

In conjunction with the BlogHer 2010 conference, Parenting and BlogHer also announced the launch of Must-Read Moms, an editorial feature celebrating outstanding mom blog writing that will appear in the September issue of Parenting magazine and will be promoted extensively on BlogHer.com and Parenting.com.  The ten writers among this year's Parenting/BlogHer Must-Read Moms were nominated by a panel of Parenting.com and BlogHer.com bloggers, and jointly chosen by the editors of Parenting and BlogHer.  

This year's honorees include:  

Exclusive essays from each of the Must-Read Moms will be featured in the September 2010 issues of Parenting Early Years and Parenting School Years, and several will also be highlighted in upcoming issues of Babytalk and Conceive magazines.  For more on this year's Must-Read Moms, visit www.parenting.com/mustreadmoms and www.blogher.com/must-read-moms.

About The Parenting Group

The Parenting Group, home of the Parenting, Babytalk and Conceive brands, reaches moms over 15 million times every month through magazines, digital media, custom content, and events.  TPG's publications include: Parenting School Years, for moms with children in kindergarten through elementary school; Parenting Early Years, for moms of infants, toddlers and preschoolers; Babytalk, for new moms and moms-to-be; and Conceive, for women trying to get pregnant.  TPG's other media properties include: the Babytalk Pregnancy Planner; the Parenting.com and ConceiveOnline.com web sites; MomConnection®, a nationally-representative online research network; and a custom content unit.  The Parenting Group is a division of Bonnier Corporation.

About BlogHer

Reaching more than 20 million women each month (Nielsen Site Census, March 2010), BlogHer is the leading participatory news, entertainment and information network for women online. Founded in February 2005 by Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone, BlogHer's mission is to create opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community and economic empowerment. Today BlogHer creates opportunities for members via a community hub (www.blogher.com), annual conferences and a publishing network of more than 2,500 qualified, contextually targeted blog affiliates. BlogHer provides the highest quality content on a range of topics, with all blogs continually edited to meet strict editorial standards, including content quality, category relevance and blog frequency.  BlogHer's investors are Venrock, GE/NBC Universal's Peacock Equity Fund, and Azure Capital Partners.

SOURCE Bonnier Corp.'s Parenting Group