Kids online are getting younger...
I noticed that mango-mummy has been blogging about a friend of hers that has been causing concern on Facebook. Whilst nothing beats parental supervision, this isn't always practical or possible, (besides, we also need to educate and trust kids, for along term solution, not wrap them in cotton wool). Maybe we should all take it upon ourselves to check our younger friends, our daughters, neices and friend's daughters pages and ensure that their privacy settings are on PRIVATE.
Plus give them a little reminder about the dangers of talking to strangers, be it online or elsewhere, ESPECIALLY when someone asks you to keep a secret. Here are some links that may come in handy when convincing tweens and teens, plus a post that I put in Email Savvy a while back. (Often daughter's won't listen to their Mum's, so help your friend's out by talking to their kids if you see them online, don't come on too heavy handed or they may delete you and you won't know what they're up to).
We also need to be watching the activities of all the young men in our lives as well, for they are often less careful than young women, because they are used to feeling safe and being the 'stronger sex'. This gives them a false sense of security, there is nothing stopping a dangerous deviant from posing as a 'hot chick' or a 'hot guy' if they prefer and setting up a meet or finding out enough private information from a young male and causing him harm.
Of course Facebook isn't the only online social media that teens and other unsuspecting innocents put themselves at risk on. All social media groups are prone to predators, Facebook has just been in focus a lot lately. The same cautionary use applies to Bebo, MySpace, MSN Chat, Skype, Yahoo Messenger and any other social online site; including Minti and other parenting forums; they are all fair game.
Many social networking sites have a minimum age of 13 years old, however some kids lie about their age to join these sites. It is up to the rest of us as responsible adults to keep a close eye on them all and offer guidance to keep them safe. There is so much access that you can't supervise, (friend's homes, libraries, school, internet cafés etc), that it would be dangerous to presume you can stop your kids from being online.
Many social networking sites have a minimum age of 13 years old, however some kids lie about their age to join these sites. It is up to the rest of us as responsible adults to keep a close eye on them all and offer guidance to keep them safe. There is so much access that you can't supervise, (friend's homes, libraries, school, internet cafés etc), that it would be dangerous to presume you can stop your kids from being online.
0 comments:
Post a Comment