A new survey has found that children are starting to use the internet from a younger age.
Pupils in first class started to go online from under the age of five, compared to their sixth-class peers who on average first used the internet at the age of 7.7, the study found.
The School Digital Trend Report from online safety firm, Zeeko, found 86% have access to a smart phone, tablet or iPod.
Two thirds of sixth-class children use smart phones to access the internet, play online games, use apps, etc.
However, younger children depend mostly on tablets for their online access, with laptops, games consoles, iPods, e-books and smart TVs also widely used by pre-teens to access internet-based content.
The research was carried out between September and November last year, with 4,439 children from 29 primary schools completing a questionnaire about their internet use.
913 guardians of primary school pupils in 55 schools also filled in a similar questionnaire between January and June.
YouTube is the most popular app across all primary age children, except among first-classe pupils, who marginally prefer online game Minecraft.
However, older children, particularly those in fifth and sixth classes, also enjoy using messaging and social media services like Snapchat and Instagram.
More than half of pupils from third class onwards claim they know more about apps and online media than their parents do.
However, when it comes to use of social media, children are less confident that they can outwit their parents, with just 56% of sixth-class kids saying they know more than mum and dad.
In general, children seem to be allowed one to two hours of screen time each day during weekdays.
While the percentage of child respondents who claim to have experienced cyber-bullying is low, between a fifth and a third of second to sixth class children said they had experience of others around them being bullied online.
Half of those in sixth class said they had played with or against a stranger online, and a quarter said they had spoken or chatted to a stranger on the internet.
Set up in 2013 by Joe Kenny, an entrepreneur and a parent concerned about the lack of attention being given to the growing dominance of the internet in children's lives, Zeeko provides training and education to children, parents and educators in schools to help them protect children while online.
