Just over half of parents and carers believe that the benefits of youngsters being online outweigh the risks – a 10 per cent decrease since 2015.
This has coincided with more children seeing hateful content online than they were previously, with 51 per cent of 12 to 15-year-olds seeing such material in the last year.
This is an increase from 34 per cent in 2016.
Yih-Choung Teh, strategy and research group director at Ofcom, said: “Today’s children have never known life without the internet, but two million parents now feel the internet causes them more harm than good.”
He added that it is “encouraging” that more parents, carers and teachers are now taking it upon themselves to talk about online safety with children.
The report also found that youngsters are becoming increasingly drawn to the “vlogger next door” – a social media influencer who may be local to their area or share a specific interest.
Another concern for parents is the impact of gaming on their children.
In 2019, 47 per cent of parents said they are concerned about their children making in-game purchases – up from 40 per cent in 2018.
Last year 39 per cent also said they were concerned about their children being bullied while playing games online, which is an increase from 32 per cent in 2018.
While gaming is more popular among boys than girls, it is becoming an increasingly popular pastime for girls.
The percentage of girls aged five to 15 playing online games rose to 48 per cent in 2019 from 39 per cent in 2018, while the figure for boys remained at 71 per cent.
The research also found that social media usage among children is becoming increasingly fragmented, with older children in particular using a wider range of platforms than they have previously.
WhatsApp is now used by 62 per cent of 12 to 15-year-olds, up from 43 per cent in 2018.
The messaging service now ranks alongside Facebook (69 per cent), Snapchat (68 per cent) and Instagram (66 per cent) as being among the most popular social media platforms used by older children.
