Parents need to regulate children’s internet access

PARENTS need to learn more about the internet to help ensure their children are using it safely, experts have warned.

Extra caution is being urged after a survey by the National Council for Technology in Education (NCTE) Webwise site showed that increasing numbers of children are meeting with strangers they only know through the internet. One in four of those new contacts turned out to be adults, who had introduced themselves online as children.

The results indicate that fewer young people have rules on home use of the internet than three years ago. More than 90% of those surveyed had home internet access, up 10% since 2003.