9 out of 10 Children Found to Have Online Presence by Age 2, says Study

A recent study released by Research Now for antivirus maker AVG reveals that 9 out of 10 percent of children already have an online presence as early as 2 years old. 92% of Americans were found to have a digital footprint or profile by their second birthday.

Social media sites such as Facebook and the like allow users to upload photos of parents’ newborn babies and even post birth announcements and more. These were among the activities noted by Research Now during their conducted research. In fact, the study also showed that babies as young as 6 months old already had their own e-mail addresses already.

The study interviewed 2,200 moms from the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, New Zealand, France, Japan, Italy, Spain and other developed countries to find out when exactly parents start uploading photos of their children online.

Almost 25% confirmed that even before their babies were born, they were already uploading their prenatal sonogram scans online already.

Part of the study also involved asking the moms how concerned they were (on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most concerned) about the amount of information they share online about their children in the future. Majority were moderately concerned (an average of 3.5). Canadian moms were the least worried (with an average of 3.1). On the other hand, Spanish moms worried the most (with an average of 3.9).


Photo from sxc.hu

SOURCES:
•    “92 Percent of Kids have Online Presence by the Age of Two,” growingyourbaby.com 
•    “Nine of Ten U.S. Kids Have Online Presence by Age Two, Study Says” pcworld.com