Primary School Students Lie About Their Age To Access Social Websites

In UK a new study revealed that primary school students are routinely lying about their age to circumvent social websites such as Facebook. More than one in four young students, as much as the age of nine to ten years lie to use social networking websites while many have hundreds of online 'friends' or contacts, which can include complete strangers.

According to the study by the EU Kids Online Project based at the London School of Economics, of the more than 25,000 children interviewed, 67 per cent had their own profile on a social networking site, the Daily Mail reports.

Among children aged nine and ten, 28 percent had their own profile, while the figure rose to 59 percent for 11 and 12-year-olds, the study said.

The report, National Perspectives, found that UK children 'report substantially more social networking site contacts... including some that are not known to them face-to-face', adding that Britain was 'distinctive' in the high number of nine to 12-year-olds who lied about their age online.

More than one in ten children in the UK aged nine to 16 have been exposed to sexual images online, and 2 per cent have seen explicit images featuring violence, the study noted.

The study also found that nearly half of parents do not use internet filtering systems to protect their children from extreme content.

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Source-ANI