Children are using the internet to watch YouTube videos, connect with friends on social-networking sites and look up “sex” and “porn”, according to a study of the top web searches by youngsters.
Security firm Symantec identified the top 100 searches conducted between February and July through its family safety service OnlineFamily.Norton, which monitors children’s and teenagers’ internet use.
It found the most popular search term was for YouTube, the video sharing website owned by Google, with internet star, Fred Figglehorn, a fictional character whose YouTube videos are popular with children, coming ninth in the top searches.
Parents should be talking with their kids about appropriate online behaviour
The search engine Google was the second most popular search term and Yahoo came seventh, while social-networking site Facebook ranked third and MySpace came fifth in the list.
But the words “sex” and “porn” also made it into the top 10, ranked numbers four and six respectively.
Other popular search terms included Michael Jackson, eBay, Wikipedia, Miley Cyrus who plays Hannah Montana in the hit Disney series, Taylor Swift, Webkinz, Club Penguin, and the Black Eyed Peas’ song “Boom Boom Pow.”
Symantec’s internet safety advocate, Marian Merritt, says the list shows that parents needed to be aware what their children are doing online. “It also helps identify ‘teachable moments’ when parents should be talking with their kids about appropriate online behaviour and other issues in their kids’ online lives,” she says.
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