Parents allow young children to use social networking websites

Wasting precious time on social networking sites has become a UK standard, even for busy parents.

But despite the ongoing concerns about cyberspace stranger danger, 78 per cent of parents are allowing their children under the age of 15 to register their own profile of websites such as Bebo and Facebook.

Worryingly, 48 per cent of these parents admitted to having no idea what their young children were actually doing whilst online, trusting their child to keep themselves safe.

The results of the findings became even more alarming when one in ten parents said they allowed their kids to  lie about their age when using social networking sites such as Facebook which has a recommended minimum sign up age of 13 years.

A whopping 79 per cent favoured Facebook, making it the top social networking platform.

In second place came Bebo with 77 per cent of the votes and MSN in third place, used by 73 per cent of children.

The research from MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, found that parents who did have some awareness as to what their child was getting up to had not even checked the privacy settings to make sure their child wasn’t broadcasting information to strangers.

The company decided to conduct the research in light of increased numbers of youngsters becoming a fan of their social networking profile.

A 22 per cent of parents did state that they did not allow their children to use social networking sites.

Half of these explained that it was because it was detrimental to their child’s education, with just one in four quoting online safety reasons.

MD of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, Mark Pearson said: “I think that it is very important for children to be able to use these sites to an extent because it is a great way for them to keep in contact with their friends. I think in many ways it seems alien to us because for many these sites didn’t exist when we were at that age.

“I do think however, that the access does need to be limited because over exposure can be bad for their health. Also, it is vital that children are monitored and privacy settings are kept in check to ensure no personal information is accessible to strangers.”