Many children and teenagers are taking part in questionable activities online, including cyberbullying and pretending to be older than they are, yet a significant number of parents are not aware of what their children get up to on the internet, a new survey has revealed.

The survey by the Irish Computer Society looked at the differences in online activities between more than 1,100 primary and secondary school students aged between 10 and 17.

The results revealed that 53% of boys and 47% of girls have adjusted their age online and 7% of boys and 8% of girls have given out personal information to strangers they have met on the internet.

When it came to the issue of cyberbullying, 23% of boys and 24% of girls said that hurtful comments had been posted about them online, while 7% of boys and 5% of girls admitted to writing something hurtful about other people online.

Meanwhile, when it came to why they used the internet, boys tended to play more games online than girls, while girls were more likely to use the internet for schoolwork than boys. Although social media use was high among both boys (77%) and girls (83%).

However, the survey also revealed that many parents are not paying attention to what their children get up to online. Some 45% of boys and 39% of girls said that their parents were not aware of what they did on the internet.