Kids ditch dictionaries, encyclopedias and search for sex online

While popular searches among teens and children included "New Moon" (of the Twilight vampire film series) and harmless child entertainment such as Sesame Street, "sex" showed up fourth on the list for boys and fifth for girls, following YouTube, Google, and Facebook as the three top terms. In fourth place, after "sex", came "porn" on the boys' lists while for girls, that search came in at number 24.

Overall, for boys, the top 25 search terms focused on social-networking sites, shopping sites, and certain adult terms while girls appear to favor subjects related to music, television shows, movies, and celebrities.

The lists, which were recently released by New Zealand-based anti-virus firm Symantec and based on 14.6 million searches monitored by their OnlineFamily.Norton software, showed that girls were less interested in searching for sex-related material than boys. While searches for "sex" and "porn" were both present in boys' top 10 searches, only "sex" was present in girls' top 10.

Could children as young as 5 and 6 really be searching for "porn"? While the search term "porn" appears at number 4 on the list of things children aged 7 and under search for, Duncan Riley of The Inquisitr doubts it's validity.

"I don't dispute that older kiddies might be searching for porn, but seven or six year old kids to the point that it's the fourth most popular search term in the age group? The suggestion isn't just dumb, it's (and pardon the swearing) complete and utter bullshit," Riley declared in a recent blog post. "First, it presumes that lots of seven, six and even five year olds are using search engines to begin with. Second, it also then presumes that they know what porn is (both as a concept and actual word.)"

Whatever your views, here are the lists for you to peruse.

Top searches for teens:

1.YouTube
2. Facebook
3. Google
4. Sex
5. MySpace
6. Porn
7. Yahoo
8. YouTube.com
9. eBay
10. Wikipedia

Top searches for tweens:

1. YouTube
2. Google
3. Facebook
4. Sex
5. Club Penguin
6. Youtube.com
7. You Tube
8. Miniclip
9. Yahoo
10. eBay

Top search for children (ages seven and under):

1. YouTube
2. Google
3. Facebook
4. Porn
5. Club Penguin
6. Yahoo
7. Webkinz
8. You Tube
9. Games
10. Miniclip

Top boys' searches:

1. YouTube
2. Google
3. Facebook
4. Sex
5. Porn
6. eBay
7. Yahoo
8. Youtube.com
9. Wikipedia
10. MySpace

Top girls' searches:

1. YouTube
2. Google
3. Facebook
4. Taylor Swift
5. Sex
6. Youtube.com
7. Party in the USA
8. Miley Cyrus
9. Yahoo
10. MySpace

Tags: anti-virus, childrens online behavior, Norton, porn, search terms, Symantec