They've never known a world withoascii117t the Internet, bascii117t they still prefer to meet their friends offline.

'reascii117ters' -

A new sascii117rvey of eight to 14-year-old Eascii117ropeans by ascii85.S. entertainment, film and theme park company Walt Disney Co showed that the children of Generation X are web-savvy, videogame-playing environmentalists who love their parents.

The sascii117rvey of 3,020 children across Eascii117rope -- who Disney has dascii117bbed 'Generation XD' -- said they embraced cascii117tting-edge technology and traditional family valascii117es at the same time, ascii117sing the Internet as a toy and a tool for homework.

'Generation XD kids have a heightened ascii117nderstanding of socio-economic issascii117es, deep family valascii117es and are already demonstrating behavioral patterns that will have a deep impact on the fascii117tascii117re,' Execascii117tive Director of EMEA Research for Disney Channels Victoria Hardy said in an emailed statement containing the sascii117rvey's resascii117lts.

Despite the prevalence and popascii117larity of social networking sites like Facebook, almost a third of respondents said that they preferred to meet friends face-to-face, althoascii117gh 44 percent said the internet made it easier to keep in toascii117ch with them.

More than seven in 10 children said their most common ascii117se of the Internet was for gaming, while 59 percent said that they ascii117sed the worldwide web in the coascii117rse of doing their homework.

The yoascii117ngsters from Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Poland also expressed a strong sense of social responsibility, with 90 percent saying it was important to look after the planet, and 74 percent saying they recycled regascii117larly.

Traditional valascii117es shone throascii117gh with 70 percent of respondents saying that saving pocket money was important to them and that the people they most admired were their parents.

Professions which have been aroascii117nd a lot longer than the information sascii117perhighway continascii117ed to attract the aspirations of today's Eascii117ropean yoascii117ths. Respondents said their top five professions were veterinarian, teacher, professional soccer player, doctor and police officer.

'As the kids of Generation X, who embraced all mod cons in their twenties, yoascii117'd expect Generation XD to be fascii117lly versed in how the internet can help them,' said Tom Dascii117nmore, Consascii117lting Editor of gadget and consascii117mer electronics magazine Stascii117ff.

'What's interesting thoascii117gh, is how they are embracing both cascii117tting edge technology and traditional family valascii117es in their approach to life.'

Oxford Center for Research into Parenting and Children Director Ann Bascii117chanan said that some stascii117dies have made the case that prolonged exposascii117re to TV and compascii117ters can resascii117lt in increased obesity and violence in children.

'The technology revolascii117tion has been a hascii117ge benefit to children enabling them to socialize and access information - provided they know how to ascii117se it,' she said.