One In Three Irish Six Year Olds Surf The Web Alone

Almost one third of six year olds and half of children over 13 browse the internet without supervision from their parents.

According to The Irish Independent, a new survey has revealed that 73 per cent of children over the age of 16 spend hours online without any interference from their parents.

The results of the survey are worrying as research has shown that a child will accept any Facebook friend request they receive and over 50 per cent of kids have virtual friends who they have never met in real life.

Researchers conducting the survey questioned 1,000 people across Ireland in order to find out if Irish children are being supervised online.

Although the research was carried out earlier this year, IT security company ESET released the findings in the wake of the suicides of two teenage girls who had been bullied online.

73 per cent of 16 year olds surf the net for hours without parental intervention

According to Urban Schrott Cybercrime analyst, parents need to be aware of everyone their child is interacting with online.

"Parents tend to say 'I don't know much about computers' but they should have the same attitude to online communication as they do in real life.

"They don't want their kids in the wrong part of town or hanging about with the wrong people. Why shouldn't the same rules apply online?

"We wanted to remind people of the dangers because of these tragic events. No one thought it would come to this," he said.

The study revealed that 49 per cent of parents have never reviewed the privacy settings on their child’s social network account but Mr Schrott warned that online bullying is just as traumatic.

"Just because it isn't physical, bullying and abuse online is just as traumatic and cruel as elsewhere and should be detected early, blocked in time and the victim treated as seriously as they would be in the case of any other abuse," he said.