CorpComms Magazine

Over a quarter of children ranked websites such as Facebook, Twitter and MSN as the most important thing in their life, according to a recent poll commissioned by community campaign National Family Week.

In a study of 3,000 eight to 15 year olds, girls showed a particularly precocious social streak. When asked to identify the most important thing to them, the most common first choice was popularity and making friends, followed by family and then social networking. Four out of ten girls considered sites like Facebook the most important aspect of their life.

Boys exhibited more Mafia-like tendencies, listing the family as their first priority, followed by money, and then popularity and making friends. Just six per cent of boys ranked social networking forums as their primary concern.

Whilst two thirds of parents consider themselves the biggest influence in their child's life, over half of children disagree.

The survey also queried how children feel about spending time with the folks. Over a quarter of boys felt they did not spend enough time with their family, compared to only 16 per cent of girls.

National Family Week, which encourages families to spend more time together, runs from May 31 to June 6. So long as the girls don't sabotage it.

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