1 in 4 babies on Internet before they're born

AVG survey finds average child has online presence by age of 6 months

The average child has an online presence by the age of 6 months, thanks to their parents’ Facebooking and other online activities, and nearly a quarter of kids make their Internet debut before they’re even born by way of their ultrasound images being uploaded.

Those are among the findings by security company AVG, which surveyed mothers with Internet access who live in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Mothers were asked when they first uploaded pictures of their kids and why, according to J. R. Smith, AVG’s CEO, in a blog post.

More fun facts:

•    Four out of five kids have a digital footprint by the age of 2

•    7% of babies have email addresses from birth, courtesy of their parents

•    Nearly 3 quarters of moms said they posted baby/toddler pictures online to share with friends

Naturally, AVG’s angle on all this is that yes, everyone’s doing it, but you really should be careful about distributing pictures and information about your precious children. After all, much has been made of keeping your kids from making bad choices online,  but many parents beat them to the punch.

“It’s important for parents today to realise they are creating an online dossier for a human being that will be with them for years to come,” Smith writes. “It's worth considering what kind of digital footprint or online history you want to leave for your child. And when your child is a teenager or adult, what will they make of the information you are currently uploading now?”

• Security
• AVG
• children online
• Facebook
• IT security
• social networking