Web plays big role for children
Social networking sites like Bebo and Facebook are playing an important role in the lives of young children, according to research.
A study Institute of Public Policy Research (ippr), said young people were spending up to 20 hours per week on these and other similar websites.
With so many hours being spent online, ippr is calling on the government to do more to ensure that children have a positive experience.
"Government needs to improve media literacy programmes for kids and to make sure parents are aware of how they can support young people’s positive online experiences," said report author Kay Withers.
The report urges leading websites to develop industry-wide standards and says that Ofcom, the government’s regulator, should produce an annual report on efforts to tackle unsuitable online content.
Web 2.0 has led to an explosion in the amount of user-generated content on the internet.
While this has improved the usefulness and appeal of the web enormously, it has highlighted the uncensored nature of the online environment.
