CHICAGO (AP) - A new study finds that kids may end up getting
more than they bargained for when they go searching for things on
the Internet. The study by the University of New Hampshire finds
that 42 percent of Internet users between the ages of ten and 17
report they have seen online pornography during a recent 12-month
span. Of that number, two thirds said it was an accident -- that
they didn't want to view the images and hadn't sought them out. One
student, who says she has come across such images, says they show
up all the time when she's surfing the 'Net. She says at first it
was a shock, but says now, "it's just annoying." That's
disturbing to one pediatrician, who didn't take part in the actual
study. Dr. Michael Wasserman of Metairie, Louisiana says the
frequency of kids stumbling across online porn has "really taken
away the age of innocence."
Details of the study are in the current issue of Pediatrics, due
out today.