Survey: Social Sites Not Kids’ Main Threat

Harassment and unwanted sex proposals don’t occur most often on social networking sites, a survey finds. Instead, kids are victimized more often through instant messages or in chat rooms. These findings come from a survey of nearly 1,600 Internet users, ages 10 to 15. About 1 in 8 said they had an unwanted online request in the last year to talk about sex or do something sexual. Almost half of the time this came in an instant message. About 1 in 3 incidents happened in a chat room and 1 in 4 on a social networking site. Kids also reported harassment. More than half of the time, this came through an instant message. The study was published online January 28 by the journal Pediatrics.