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Up to half of online adults worldwide and up to 40 per cent of online
children worldwide have made friends on line, with 72 per cent of
responding UK adults having translated at least one online friend to an
offline friend. In the UK, 43 per cent of online adults and 26 per cent
of children enjoy their online relationships as much or more than their
offline friendships. This indicates a major shift in how people relate
to one other and provides potential clues for the future of human
interaction.

Another common theme worldwide reveals that parents’ perception of what
their children are doing online does not reflect the reality of what
their children say they are doing. For example, one in five responding
children admit to conducting activities online that they know their
parents would not approve of with 24 per cent of UK online children
spending tenfold or more time online than their parents think they do.
The survey revealed that 72 per cent of responding parents in the UK are
concerned about their children’s activities online, with 25 per cent
having no idea about what their children are doing on the internet.

This can have shocking consequences: Five times as many children online
in the UK have been approached by a stranger online than their parents
believe. In UK, adults believe that four per cent of children have been
approached online by a stranger. The actual per cent reported by UK
online children is 20.

Caroline Cockerill, Norton Online Safety Advocate for Symantec, said:
"The Norton Online Living Report highlights how the boundaries have
blurred between the online and offline worlds and the effect this is
having on our families and as individuals."

"As parents, we need to balance our concerns about child safety online
while allowing children the freedom to explore without fear of what they
may find. In order to make our children’s time online as safe as
possible, there are a number of recommendations to follow. Installing
and constantly updating Internet security software is a key factor in
helping to shield our families from a variety of unwanted materials, but
the protection does not stop there. Now more than ever it is important
that parents fully understand the rich online world that children have
access to, and are aware of the social as well as technological measures
that need to be undertaken to ensure that they are protected. This
begins with an awareness of the Web sites that our children now use on a
daily basis, and an open and frank discussion about the online risks
which children may face."

Online parents are recognising the social and informative benefits of
the Internet both for themselves and their children yet few are setting
parameters and implementing controls to ensure children remain safe on
line. Worldwide, half or less of online parents, or 37 per cent in the
UK, have set parental controls on their family computers. Around seven
in 10 UK online parents are concerned about their children being
approached with inappropriate content or solicitations but only four in
10 have spoken to their child on safe Internet practices, despite the UK
having the highest number of children (87 per cent) claiming to be
comfortable talking to their parents about their on line experiences.

The Norton Online Living Report is the world’s most comprehensive report
on the digital lifestyle habits of adults and children, cataloguing the
astonishing migration of offline activities to the online world. The
report examines data from eight countries including UK, Australia,
Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan and the U.S., to reveal surprising
cross-cultural differences, and similarities, when it comes to
interacting with technology. Symantec commissioned Harris Interactive
to conduct the survey to better comprehend how consumers interact with
technology on a daily basis in order to understand the mindset of
consumers worldwide. This detailed data will allow Symantec to hone its
products, deliver targeted and streamlined services and to anticipate
online threats and trends.