In the latest “no shit Sherlock” survey to emerge from the US, it appears that parents are getting silly about policing their precious snowflakes' Facebook use.

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project survey shows that parents are adopting surveillance procedures which make Big Brother look like an uncaring stepfather. To sate their psychologically unbalanced fear that some paedophile might find the overweight fruit of their loins attractive, the are monitoring what their kids do on Facebook.

Needless to say the US kids are revolting although in this case it is against their parents. Not only are they refusing to friend the neurotic control freaks, the are also trying to hide their internet activities from them to save themselves the agro. Half of parents using social networks have commented or responded directly to something that was posted to their child's profile or account, the researchers said.

The survey suggests parents are monitoring teen online activity because of persistent fears about a number of risks. While some 53 percent of parents said they were "very concerned" about how their child interacts online with people they do not know, 46 percent felt the same way about how much data is collected by online marketers tracking the activities of teens online.

Apparently parents are concerned that activities on social networks may damage the children's reputation, and possibly come back to haunt them later in life. Much like the actions of autocratic parents which are more likely to damage them even more.