Want to charge your parents for helping them with their tech problems? Here is how much your time and expertise are actually worth.
Teenagers Helping with Tech Problems
We all know the all-too-familiar scenario of helping a tech-hopeless relative with a basic technological problem. But how many hours are the younger generation helping their parents with tech support? And more importantly, how much are these skills worth? Prolifics Testing surveyed over 2,600 teenagers (aged 13-18) to assess the type of tech problems they have helped with, and the hours spent. Additionally, they calculated exactly how much these teenagers could be making were they to charge for their services. According to the findings, teenagers could earn over £4000 annually for the tech support they provide their parents.
Social Media Issues
According to the findings, parents mostly look to their teens for social media advice. This encompasses everything from how to upload images and videos to how to share posts and effectively use hashtags. In the past year, teenagers have spent an average of 32 hours helping their parents with social media related tasks. Subsequently, if they were to bill this time, it would equate to around £519.04.
Working From Home
With the worldwide shift to home working, there has been a rise in the use of work-related tech problems. For example, sending bulk emails, sending and opening attachments, grouping contacts and scheduling emails. Teenagers report spending around 29 hours helping with emails; assistance which could have earned them around £693.68. These figures soon add up and look like a lot more than your typical pocket money budget.
In addition to basic email guidance, it seems that there has been an increase in how much teenagers are assisting with Zoom and Skype technology. Interestingly, 67% of teenagers have had to help their parents set up a Zoom or Skype meeting in the past months. 52% have assisted their parents in setting up a Whatsapp video call and 43% have helped set up a Whatsapp group chat.
Additional Tech Problems
Looking at other tech problems, it seems that teenagers could have earned anything from £200-650 for their expertise with video editing, basic cyber security, and selling on online marketplaces. Consequently, taking all of the different tasks into account, the figures show that teenagers could earn on average £4,214.25 annually providing IT support to their parents.
