Online Dangers for Children

Just as the Internet is becoming more and more pervasive in the lives of children, so too is their exposure to unsuitable material.

Recent studies have estimated that there are more than 200 million Adult web sites on the Internet at any one time. Many of these sites are competing for the attention of web users by purchasing key words on major search engines. Too often children are innocently drawn to click on such links and become exposed to inappropriate information.

According to a report in "Pediatrics", 42% of children aged 10 to 17 said they had come across some form of hard-core pornography online in a 12 month period. Researchers found that a unexpectedly high proportion of children accessing this material were between the ages of 10 and 11.

According to University of Chicago psychiatrist Sharon Hirsch, such exposure to online pornography could lead kids to become sexually active too soon, or could put them at risk for being victimized by sexual predators if they visit sites that prey on children. (Xinhua News Agency, 5 Feb, 2007).

Two thirds of the children in a UNH study came across pornography by accident, by mistyping an address or by an unexpected search result. Such an experience is becoming commonplace. In fact, according to David S. Bickham, Staff Scientist at the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston, unintentional exposure to adult material is "a normal experience that is a consequence of most Internet use."