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Currently, most social networking sites do not allow kids under 16 or 13 to join, but many youths get around the ban by faking their age.

The Facebook fad is not confined to Singapore. In Britain, a mother of three kids launched a “Facebook for kids” called School Together Now in January.

Such parents say it is better to create a supervised space where kids can safely interact online with their friends.

However, educators and counsellors warn that exposure to the Internet, be it to social networking websites, chatrooms or just surfing YouTube, carries risks for young children.

Apart from the risk of predators, there is also the question of forsaking real play for virtual friendship.

Schools in Singapore have a cyber wellness programme. At the primary level, children are taught how to cope with cyber bullying, the dangers of cyber contacts, and how to handle inappropriate content, among other things.

Senior social worker Lim Puay Leng, 31, from Fei Yue Family Service Centre (Yew Tee), said school-going kids already use the Internet to help them in their schoolwork. But just as older children and adults can develop Internet-related problems like addiction, so can young kids.

Ms Lim has seen a number of primary school children with Internet-related problems like gaming addiction.

Ms Vivienne Ng, 34, a senior social worker at Hougang Sheng Hong Family Service Centre, knows of a seven-year-old who played online games for more than five hours a day.

Lack of parental supervision may be a reason such problems arise, counsellors say.

Mr Poh Yeang Cherng, manager of Touch Cyber Wellness and Sports, said young children should be closely supervised by adults when they are accessing the Internet.

He added that there are child-friendly search engines and filtering software that will limit websites to those suitable for children.

For social networking sites, Dr Daniel Fung, chief of the child and adolescent psychiatry department at the Institute of Mental Health, thinks parents ought to talk to their children about their involvement, especially if they had ‘lied’ to join such sites.

He also said children need to have a balance between computer time and outdoor play.

As for Mr Chang, he limits Yuet Ying’s Internet use to an hour a day. He also places the family’s PC in the living room.

Still, he said: “I never imagined that an eight- or nine-year-old could go on the Internet. But it’s one of those things you can’t stop.”

Chang Yuet Ying first went online

A to complete her school assignment.

B to play online games.

C to set up a Facebook account.

Yuet Ying’s father

A controls all his daughter’s online activity.

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