Children in the UK are spending more than 100 minutes online everyday, compared to the European average of 88 minutes, according to a new study.
The EU Kids Online Project, run by the LSE, found that on average, those children in the UK aged between nine and 16 spend 102 minutes on the internet.
The study also found that twenty-eight per cent of British children aged nine and 10 have an online profile, even though most social networks, such as Facebook, require members to be at least 13 years old.
59 per cent of 11 and 12 year olds have an online social network profile.
The report, based on interviews with more than 25,000 children across the EU, found that half of UK children go online using a mobile device. Twenty-six per cent have hand-held access to the internet, via devices such as tablets, while 33 per cent go online via their mobile phone.
The LSE also found that almost a quarter of British children aged 9-16 said they had seen sexual images online or offline in the past 12 months. Only 11 per cent said they had seen sexual images online in the past 12 months, with 13 per cent saying they had seen sexual images offline.
Similarly, 21 per cent of children said they had been bullied but the majority of these – 13 per cent – said the bullying had occured offline, with just eight per cent saying that they had been bullied online.