How to Keep Your Teen Safe Online

What you need to know to keep your teen safe online.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. If you have a computer with internet access in your home, know its capabilities. Your teen is only as safe as you are savvy. Know if you have parent controls or filters, and if so, how to use them. One of the biggest risks teens face online is exploitation. Would you let them go somewhere you have never been with people you've never met, where there are perverts on the loose everywhere? I think not.

2. If you have unfiltered access, consider purchasing a filter. You can find filters that are as restrictive or lax as you want. With a filter you can filter not only content, but the types of applications your teen has access to, like chat rooms and instant messaging. Just type "computer filters in your search engine"

3. Chances are, with or without permission, your teen is going to log onto a social networking site like MySpace or Facebook. This isn't bad in of itself, but just like you wouldn't let your teen have free reign in a big city without supervision, don't leave them unsupervised here either. Ask for their log in info so you can get on their page and check it out. Or, even better, get your own account! This way you can see that the content is appropriate and learn for yourself how the sites work.

4. Consistency is a must. Check on your teens online activity regularly. Don't make it like a spy routine, but tell your teen up front that you are fine if they want to surf the web, but under the condition that you can see what they are up to. If they don't want you to see it, they probably shouldn't be posting it anyway. Online predators are searching through thousands of profiles everyday to find information that can give them access to your child. Don't let them have it!

Tips & Warnings

• Know what you are looking for. Predators do!
• Look for pictures your teen has posted. Are the pictures provocative, will they attracts the wrong kind of attention? Pictures posted online might as well be billboards on the highway, only much harder to remove.
• Don't just look for the obvious. Are there pictures or insignias that might tell someone where your teen goes to school or works? It's never a good idea to post info about where you live or places you frequent.
• Tell your teen the no-talking-to-strangers rule you taught them as a child applies to the internet too.
• Sites like MySpace and Facebook have privacy settings that regulate who can see what information on their profiles, make sure they use them and set them as high as they go.

Resources

• Filtering site
• Filtering site
• Statistics on online predators
• Statistics on online predators

[okielady32]

on 7/22/2009 excellent information

[AbbyNormal]

on 9/9/2008 Excellent article.