[Internet usage in households with children between 4 and 18 years old. Parent's supervision. Results of a national survey].

Introduction: Internet has become, since its beginning, the ideal media for information access. Children and adolescents use it frequently, and they usually reach inappropriate material, and their parents are not aware of this situation. The objective of the study was to evaluate the family perception of the use at home of the Internet by children and adolescents.

Population, Material And Methods: A web survey coordinated by the Working Group of Medical Informatics at the Sociedad Argentina de Pediatría was conducted between 09/01/2007 and 03/01/2008, and evaluated the household characteristics (number of children and their age) and their user internet profile.

Results: The survey was completed by 857 of the 1055 registered users. A total of 1380 children and adolescents were included, 83.5% were from Argentina. 25.8% of the children informed the adults about an unpleasant experience while using the web, 30.8% of the adults did not know their child's online nickname and only 28.6% used parental control software. 53.4% of the surveyed individuals reported talking with their children about their online activities.

Conclusion: The results obtained from our survey show that children frequently have unpleasant experiences while using the web and there is very little supervision from parents, who underestimate the risk of the web access.