More than 50% of Parents Use Facebook to Spy On Their Kids

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The fears of a generation have been confirmed, as a new survey reveals that more than 50% of parents use social media as a way of spying on their children—and that even more would do so if they knew how.

The survey of 2,000 British parents, carried out by OnePoll, found that 55% of respondents use social media to track their kids’ online activities, with a further 5% admitting that, if they knew how to do the same thing, they would.

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Furthermore, 11% of those polled admit they created a Facebook profile purely to track their children, with 13% saying that they have logged onto friends’ accounts to check up on their children, some doing so after attempting to friend their offspring and being rejected—15% of those polled have tried to friend their kids on Facebook, with 4% of them getting rejected.

The results of the survey are likely depressing to the youth of the U.K., but can’t be that surprising; social media has long been considered an easy way of keeping track of people, after all—so much so that the Onion has already revealed the true origins of Facebook:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ380SHZvYU]

Graeme McMillan is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @Graemem or on Facebook at Facebook/Graeme.McMillan. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.

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