New Delhi :

More and more children, some as young as 10, are making friends with complete strangers in cyberspace, known to be swarming with sexual predators. These children are exploring cyberspace beyond the horizons of the Yahoo and MSN messengers. They are discovering newer hangouts in social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Hi5, Orkut, Fropper, BingBox... and even posting their pictures and personal details there.

These children generally give very adult-like identities in cyberspace — babe_dirty_angel, coolgirlin, hotboy, hot.aditi, dude_but2cute, lildudeit09, luvtotalkto, vasudha_sizzling, sakshi_paradise — and also compete with one another to keep the number of people they have befriended. The reasons for chatting by these children range from “I find it’s more interesting to know people from the world of chatting” to “I am just here to improve my typing speed”.

When asked what sites children usually like to hang out at, 10-year-old Aditya* listed fropper, yahoochat, Hi5, funmaza, blingybob, teenchat, myspace, bingbox, glittergraphics, myscene, www.58.rockyou and disneychannel. “Children also go to funnies.com for jokes and mouthshut from where they can copy book reviews,” he chuckles.

The biggest danger is the possibility of predators targeting these children. They know they should not give out personal details, but it is not very difficult to fool them. Says Samara*, an 11-year-old hooked to Hi5, “If any stranger tries to talk to me, I first check out his/her profile. If I think he/her is cool, I send a reply. Or, I just block the stranger.” When told it could be dangerous to talk to some strangers, Samara insists, “People usually tell the truth.”

Some children give out each other’s phone numbers for fun. “I know I am not supposed to give out my number and my address. So if someone insists, I usually give out my friend’s number and then have a good laugh,” says 11-year-old Arshia*. While chatting can be fun at these kids’ sites, not many children prefer to waste their time there. “I can’t go there and discuss Harry Potter,” adds Arshia.

Samir Parikh, chief psychiatrist with Max Healthcare, says, “Children are increasingly taking to chatting because they can express themselves freely online. The chat is uncensored and they can discuss any issue. They can even get abusive and get away with it.”

Well-known psychiatrist Sanjay Chugh says, “It is a reflection of the marked decrease in time parents spend with children and the paucity of creative and constructive activities that children are exposed to nowadays. Of course, it is a vicious circle fuelled by similar habits in the child’s peer group.”

It is not always safe for children to chat, they say. “It is extremely unsafe for children. They are undertaking an activity they are unequipped for emotionally, psychologically or intellectually. They are liable to huge amounts of sexual exposure and abuse and also stunting of emotional, psychological and social skills,” Chugh added.