"Sex" among most searched terms for under 7s
By Stuart Turton
Posted on 17 Dec 2009 at 15:20
Symantec has released a list of the most popular search terms used by children and teenagers - and it could set off a few alarm bells among parents.
Symantec collects data from its OnlineFamily.Norton parental control software, and the results are collated from the searches of 4,000 UK children aged 18 and under.
Across all age ranges, the top five search terms hold relatively steady, with Facebook, YouTube, Google appearing in the top spots for all age groups.
However, the lists begin to take on a very different complexion in the top 20. In the 8-12 age range, eBay, CBBC and flash-games site Miniclip debut, with sex and porn making an unwelcome appearance at 11th and 18th respectively.
Surprisingly, sex ranks ninth in the list of search terms for the under 7s age bracket, though it doesn’t even make the top 20 for the 13-18 year olds, which is dominated by shopping sites eBay, Amazon and Argos. Porn appears as the 14th most searched term in this demographic.
The study also breaks down the results by gender, and it appears both boys and girls are equally curious about sex; the search term is the seventh most popular among boys and tenth most popular among girls.
Indeed, there’s very little to choose between the top-ten lists, beyond the fact that CBBC and Hotmail appear for girls and not for boys – who propel Miniclip into their top ten.
The results suggest celebrities aren't exactly high on kids' priorities these days. Cheryl Cole is the highest ranked celeb across all lists - usually hovering just outside the top 20 - with Michael Jackson never far behind.
From around the web
Tut..tut! Next they'll be looking up rude words in dictionaries! I suggest they ban under 7s from the use of the Internet and dictionaries.
By cyberindie on 17 Dec 2009 
Er, how?
How exactly do they tell if the user is 7 or even 8 to 12?
By treadmill on 17 Dec 2009
Why, why, why???
can someone please explain why so many people can't type simple web addresses for themselves but instead rely on a search engine????
com'on should you really be searching to find google, bbc, youtube??????
i have seen this behaviour in so many adults as well
By kingct on 17 Dec 2009
What time of day/night were these searches made?! Could it be that a computer has more than one user ;) ?!
By davidsoap on 18 Dec 2009
Oh dear. Kids want to know about sex. Could it have anything to do with the fact that many schools still are too prude to deliver sex education on a proper level and/or their parents couldn't do it at all? Sex is not the worst thing that can happen to a person and the fact that the kids are curious about it doesn't mean they want it now. I'd be much, much more worried if they were looking up drugs, drinks and life and career path of Oliver Cromwell.
By Josefov on 18 Dec 2009
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