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Study Reveals What Your Kids Do Online

by Tim Stevens on February 14, 2008 at 09:57 AM

Symantec Survey Reports on What You, And your Kids, Do OnlineChances are you know reasonably well what you do online (whether or not you're willing to admit it to yourself). You shop, maintain virtual friendships, look for love, and maybe even gawk at some shady material. However, do you know what everyone else is doing online, particularly your kids? Symantec does, thanks to a survey of Internet users from eight countries around the world. While the results are mostly what you'd expect, there are some surprises in there.

Highlights of the survey are the differences in online habits in various countries. Globally, for example, 32-percent of people maintain personal blogs online (hi, mom!), but in China a whopping 86-percent of those surveyed keep personal blogs. Only 41-percent of the global respondents were willing to admit looking at pornographic material online, and about half felt "confident" shopping online. That global figure is actually brought down by the normally tech-friendly Japanese, of whom only 33-percent feel safe doing business over the Internet.

When it comes to children, 76-percent of U.S. teenagers aged 13-17 visit social networking sites, a statistic that explains the amazing popularity of MySpace. In China that number is up to 85-percent. Only about a third of those surveyed reported making friends online, however. That means most of those who are social networking are just connecting with their offline friends. Most interesting, and perhaps disturbing, was that 16-percent of kids surveyed reported being approached by a stranger online. When parents were asked how many kids were approached, they guessed just six percent.

So, again, no huge surprises, but some interesting glimpses at the current trends on the Internet, and perhaps some incentive for you parents out there to get your kids to be a little more open about what they're up to online.

From Marketwire

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Tags: Children, Internet, Kids, Survey, Symantec

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