Long gone are the days when all a teen had to worry about was hiding their diary under their mattress.

A new study has revealed that the majority of parents regularly check their children’s online activity, despite how guilty it makes them feel.

Internet safety firm, BullGuard, conducted a survey of 2,000 parents and found that six out of 10 mums and dads read their youngsters’ emails, texts and Facebook messages.

Despite feeling guilty, parents are saying that this snooping is necessary in order to keep a close eye on their kids.

20% of parents say they’ve been “shocked” by the content they found in their child’s text messages or Facebook accounts, with 17% intervening after a child was threatened online.

Suddenly our penned crushes on the boy down the road don’t seem so scandalous, do they, mum?