Source: Norton
Kiwi parents are facing the new realities of digital parenting
Auckland, July 29, 2026 – Parents are entering a new era of digital parenting, and it necessitates a new version of “the talk.”
The Norton Insights Report: Connected Kids, a new study from Norton, a Gen brand, reveals parents of children under 18 are increasingly alert to the need to protect their children from new threats, yet are still feeling their way and wrestling with how to do it.
• 77% of parents in New Zealand say they feel comfortable talking to their children about online risks
• Yet 44% are not confident their child can distinguish AI-generated content from real content.
• While more parents are now alert to the risks AI poses, with 36% having already taken steps to reduce them by measures such as restricting apps, monitoring online activity, or talking to their children specifically about AI, the concern has not gone away. 75% still worry AI could be used to create fake images or conversations involving their child.
“Many parents have done everything they can to teach their kids how to stay safe online,” says Mark Gorrie, VP APAC at Norton, who has two children of his own, “and they’ve put the safeguards in place: ‘Don’t reply to messages from strangers.’ ‘Be suspicious if a profile picture looks off.’ ‘Question anything with clumsy wording.’”
“Many have spent years building that instinct for spotting what’s wrong, but AI is taking that instinct away. A harmless photo your child posted can be altered, passed on, and turned into leverage. On the platforms they use every day, a convincing fake can pose as someone they trust or an official account. The old giveaways, the clumsy grammar and the grainy image, have gone. That’s why parents need to keep updating how they talk about online safety.”
The growing risk in every photo
When it comes to images, the risk is growing. Criminals increasingly use AI-generated photos or fake identities to gain a young person’s trust – or manipulate them into sharing real images – which are then used for financial sextortion. In 2025, New Zealand enforcement agencies received more than 20,000 reports of online child sexual exploitation and abuse linked to New Zealand from the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a 29 percent increase from 2024.[1]
Many parents recognise that AI is reshaping how their children understand what they see online:
• 79% of parents feel their child is being exposed to inappropriate content on social media too early.
• 37% are not confident their child understands that AI tools can produce inaccurate or misleading information.
The Hidden Risks of Gaming
Parents identify TikTok (15%) as their top platform concern, with Snapchat second at 13%. Online gaming follows at 11%. But the behaviours children report inside gaming environments tell a different story about where risk is accumulating.
Among the 48% of parents whose child under 18 plays chat-enabled online games:
• 49% say their child has chatted with a stranger via voice or text chat
• 22% say their child has received inappropriate or offensive messages
• 17% say their child has been encouraged to leave the game and continue a conversation on a different platform
“Social media gets the attention, but plenty of this is happening in the chat layer sitting on top of gaming,” Gorrie said. “It feels like a place where kids are just having fun, so it’s easy to let your guard down, and it’s far less visible to parents than social media use. When a child moves from a game platform to a private messaging app because someone asked them to, that escalation can be hard to detect, and kids may not recognise it as something worth mentioning.”
High Confidence, Real Exposure
The study surfaces a consistent tension between parental confidence, and the behaviours children are actually engaging in. Seventy-seven percent of parents say they feel comfortable talking to their kids about online risks, but at the same time:
• 32% report their kids go on their device past their bedtime or certain designated hour
• 15% report their children have accessed a social media platform or website they thought they had blocked them from visiting
• 12% report their children watching explicit content
• 8% report their child sharing private information or personal details with a stranger
The gap between reported parental comfort and these behaviours does not mean conversations aren’t happening, but it does suggest that having the talk is only part of the picture.
Introducing The Bots & The Bees
The research points to a broader shift in parenting. Conversations that once focused on strangers, passwords and screen time are expanding to include AI-generated images, digital impersonation, online relationships and critical thinking in a world where seeing is no longer believing. To help families navigate these conversations, Norton is introducing The Bots & The Bees, a new educational resource that provides expert guidance, practical advice and resources.
The Norton Insights Report: Connected Kids includes additional findings on social media age requirements, platform-specific concerns, and guidance for families navigating AI-related risks. Norton 360 provides families with tools to monitor online activity, set screen time limits, filter content, and protect personal information across devices. To read the full report and to access The Bots & The Bees resources, visit https://au.norton.com/blog/research/connected-kids-insights-report-2026.
About the Norton Insights Report
The study was conducted online within New Zealand from 22 May 2026 to 19 June 2026, among 1,000 adults ages 18 and older. Data are weighted where necessary by age, gender, and region, to be nationally representative. Within this report, mentions of parents refer to parents with children younger than 18 years old.
About Norton
Norton is a leader in Cyber Safety, and part of Gen (NASDAQ: GEN), a global company dedicated to powering Digital Freedom with a family of trusted consumer brands. Norton empowers millions of individuals and families with award-winning protection for their devices, online privacy, and identity.
Norton products and services are certified by independent testing organizations including AV-TEST, AV Comparatives, and SE Labs. Norton is a founding member of the Coalition Against Stalkerware. Learn more at https://nz.norton.com/.
[1] Department of Internal Affairs, “Online child exploitation reports linked to NZ up 29%”, 2 June 2026. https://www.dia.govt.nz/press.nsf/d77da9b523f12931cc256ac5000d19b6/23d636d37dbaf792cc258e0b000143c6!OpenDocument