The latest survey of 500 children aged 6-15 by broadband provider TalkTalk UK has revealed that 25% sent or have been sent inappropriate material via email and 11% have either bullied someone online or been bullied online themselves. When asked how much of their Internet behaviour they think their parents are aware of, 25% said "none".

More than six out of ten (62%) say they lie to parents about what they have been looking at online and over half (53%) delete the history on their web browser so their parents can’t see what they have been looking at. Over half (55%) of children claim they knew more about the Internet than their parents, and 47% spent 2 hours or more unsupervised online per day.


TalkTalk of course offers its customers a free product called Magic Desktop, which allows parents to introduce young children to a computer in a child-friendly environment and encourages families to use the Internet safely. That’s good because 5% claim to have communicated with a stranger on a webcam and 2% have actually met a stranger they first contacted online.