Children start watching pornography online from age six and start flirting on social media websites as young as eight, a worldwide survey of 19,000 parents has revealed.
Almost a quarter of the children accounted for in the study had at least one social network account by the time they reached 12, and 17 per cent were social media users by aged 10.
The survey by Bitdefender, an antivirus software company, found that most children lied about their age, particularly on Facebook where users must be 13 or over to join.
Addicts
Overall, children are turning to computer games and instant messaging at a younger age than they did a few years ago, with two per cent of computer addicts just five-years-old.
Bitdefender Chief Security Strategist Catalin Cosoi told USA Today: “Kids nowadays are acting like young adults online — just give them an internet-connected device, and they will find a way to things parents would like to ban forever.”
Last month the NSPCC warned that children who play out on the street or in the local park are safer than children surfing the internet.
Sexting
Sexting and cyberbulling via the internet or mobile phones have become the new emerging threat, replacing the traditional “stranger danger”, according to the report’s authors.
Also in April the Deputy Children’s Commissioner for England said a “huge moral anxiety” is required to respond to the problem of children accessing online pornography.
Sue Berelowitz revealed evidence of children as young as eleven actively “seeking out pornography”, and some boys who think there are no boundaries for sex.
Entitlement
Miss Berelowitz disclosed research that showed in one large local authority area 100 per cent of boys in year nine classes – 14-year-olds – were accessing pornography.
And she said some boys now believed they had an “absolute entitlement to have sex with girls, any time, any place, any where, with whomsoever they wished”.