According to the survey in question, “Analysis of the dangers of meeting new friends online among children, aged 12 – 17”,  which was published in January 2006, the clear majority of internet users aged  between 12 to 17 admits that they heard of or read about the dangers of meeting new friends met online (90%). Over 2/3 believe that giving out private information is dangerous. But what may be worrying is that 64% of under-age internet users make friends online and a majority gives out private information, like telephone numbers (45.2%) or home addresses (10.8%).

Chart 1: Private information given out online

Source: Gemius SA, Analysis of the dangers of meeting new friends online among children, aged 12 - 17, January 2006. N=1140

In January 2006, 2/3 of children and adolescents admitted that people they had met online wanted to meet them offline, and almost every other (44.4%) went to such a meeting, either alone (50.4%), or accompanied by a peer (48.4%). One out of every four (23.1%) under-age internet users who met their online friends offline classified the behavior of their online friend during the meeting as "suspicious"!

Chart 2. Did someone you met online want to meet with you in real life?

Source: Gemius SA, Analysis of the dangers of meeting new friends online among children, aged 12 - 17, January 2006.

The research results show urgent need for educating not only the children, but also their parents. From the research, almost 1/3 of parents in Poland are unaware of the dangers related to their children's internet use (28.4%). Young people learn about the risks through the media - television (89.1%), press (78.4%) and internet (83.7%). It is much rarer for parents to communicate this information to children (55.0%).

(*)The research was carried out between the 11th and the 12th of January 2006 through web intercept surveys emitted on web sites. The survey covered 1,779 Internet users aged 12 - 17, 3,768 respondents aged 18+ and 204 parents of children aged 12 – 17.