A study that was conducted by surveying students found that:
- 54% were unsure or believed it was safe to meet someone in person after they had been chatting with
them for a long time compared to a post-test result of eighty-three percent saying it was not safe to meet someone in person
- 25% were unsure or believed it was safe to put their address on the Internet
A study released in May of 2006 by Cox Communications in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children stated that:
- 61% of 13- to 17-year-olds have a personal profile on sites such as MySpace, Friendster, or Xanga
- 14% have actually met face-to-face with a person they had known only through the Internet (9% of
13- to 15-year-olds and 22% of 16- to 17-year-olds).
- 30% have considered meeting someone they’ve only communicated with online.
- 71% reported receiving messages online from someone they don’t know.
According to a 2003–2004 i-SAFE survey of 30,000 5th- to 12th-grade students:
- 51.3% of those surveyed said that they feel safe on the Internet because no one knows who they are.
- 54.3% stated that they like to be alone when "surfing" the Internet.
- 24.5% said that they see nothing wrong with chatting to a stranger on the Internet.
In the 2005–2006 National Assessment Center report, At Risk Online, which surveyed more than 170,000 school-age American children, it was found that:
- 49% of high school students have posted personal information on their Web pages–such as name, age, or address–that could assist a stranger
to identify or locate them
- 20% of students in middle school as well as high school admit that they have met face to face with someone they first met on the Internet
- 38% of high school students sometimes hide their online activities from their parents
- 65% of high school students admit to unsafe, inappropriate, or illegal activities online
General Computer usage statistic from the United States Department of Education, June 2005:
- Nursery School: 67% use computers; 23% use the Internet
- Kindergarten: 80% use computers; 32% use the Internet
- High School: 97% use computers; 80% use the Internet
- Overall, 91% of students use computers; 59% use the Internet
