16 million young children are online

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - The number of young children online is growing.

A new study from Nielsen Online finds that nearly 16 million children ages 2 to 11 were online in May.

They made up about 9.5 percent of Internet users.

One local mom told 22News her 20-month-old baby is already eager to get on the computer. Stephanie Roszo said when her daughter is older she will allow her to log on but not without parental guidance: "Educationally if they are using it for that purpose I think it's great. There are a lot of great things online for kids. With Myspace and Facebook it's a little unnerving because you don't know who is on the other end."

In the past five years, the number of kids online has grown by 18 percent, compared with just a 10 percent growth among all Internet users.