The Pew Internet Center recently asked that especially anxious cohort of Americans — parents of teenagers who use the Internet — if they were concerned that their child’s online activities “might affect their future academic or employment opportunities.”

Most parents said they were concerned, and that worry was most heightened among the middle class. Those who had annual incomes from $30,000 to $75,000 were most likely to worry about the implications for their children’s future.

The research into parents’ concerns comes as legislators in Europe consider a policy called “the right to be forgotten,” meaning that Web users should be entitled to delete their digital past records. Web companies vehemently oppose such a provision, and nothing like it has been proposed in the United States.

The study suggests that parents are concerned about future harm and are also trying to manage their children’s social media activities.

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