Josie Clarke

More than one in 10 UK children has had sexually explicit conversations online, according to a report released today.

More than one-quarter of 11 to 18-year-olds (28%) have visited adult websites, while 11% of the same age group had been involved in explicit chats.

The Mobile Life survey for the Carphone Warehouse found 27% of young people had interacted with strangers online and 10% had met someone in person that they originally met on the web.

The poll of 6000 adults and children in the UK and the US found one in seven UK children (14%) admitted having felt uncomfortable in online situations.

It revealed half of UK children (49%) lied to their parents about what they were doing online, often pretending to do homework when they were surfing the net or on social networking sites.

One in three (33%) admitted they would be in trouble if their parents knew what they were looking at online. The study found a significant difference between what parents thought their children were doing online and the reality.

The majority of parents (87%) believed they were fully aware of the content their children accessed, while 86% were confident their children would not do anything they disapproved of.

Most had not checked their children's online history, but 26% of those who had found something they were unhappy with. One-tenth of parents said their children had reported worrying online incidents.

Despite parents' concerns about online safety, more than half (55%) said the internet had vastly improved their life and access at home was as essential as a fridge or cooker.

TV psychologist Dr Tanya Byron, who contributed suggestions to the report to help parents discuss the internet with children, said: "The key is for parents to treat online safety the same way they approach other danger areas.

"Would you let your children learn how to cross the road via trial and error? No, you teach them the Green Cross Code. Now, with the increasing importance of wireless technology, we must all learn and teach the Online Safety Code."

Her suggestions include parents learning how to set privacy settings on home computers, telling children never to give details to strangers and to limit personal data on social networking sites and teaching children how to report abuse or offensive material.

Andrew Harrison, UK chief executive of the Carphone Warehouse, said: "We're committed to researching the best ways to keep children safe online and hope our new findings will encourage parents to speak openly with their children about the internet."