The Internet Safety Guide for Kids and Teens
The Internet can be used to find all kinds of information. It can be used for communication, entertainment, education, and other purposes. In this age, almost every modern kid and teen has access to the Internet. As useful as it has been, the Internet is also a potentially dangerous place. Kids and teens are constantly exposed to the risk of being routed to harmful or porn sites. Sometimes, kids meet dangerous predators on the Internet who can threaten, harass, blackmail, seduce, trick, cheat, or embarrass kids using emails, text messaging or instant messaging. For these reasons, kids and teens should be extra cautious when accessing the Internet.
Federal laws have been established to protect children from cyberstalking or cyberbullying. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a federal law where the websites have to explain its privacy policies and the parents may be asked for consent before the information is accessed or submitted by kids. Online protection tools can be used by parents to control the websites accessed by the kids. The tools are not 100% effective but they can be used as a form of filter. There are certain ISPs (Internet Server Providers) that provide parents with a control option in which they can block certain material which is accessed on a particular computer. In this way, it’s possible to block bad sites and restrict websites from accessing personal information submitted by the kids. There are also tools which can be used to monitor the activities of the kids.
Kids should be advised to use a screen name instead of using their real name. They should be asked to login to websites by using their screen names. Parents should learn computer skills to be able to block certain websites and they should know the passwords of the various online accounts of the children. Kids should share everything they send through the Internet with their parents. The computer should not be kept in isolated region and parents should always keep an eye on the kids when they are using the Internet. Furthermore, parents should guide the kids or teenagers about the various benefits of the Internet, and share time together online to make them realize the advantages as well as the harms of the Internet. Kids shouldn’t be allowed to join private chat rooms or social networking forums. Filters can be used to block certain features and parents can view the cookies or history files to view the list of websites accessed by the kids. The kids should not be allowed to buy things online without the knowledge of the parent and the parents should keep a check on their credit card bills. Additionally, they should strictly follow certain rules such as never share their photographs, personal information which includes personal address, phone number, credit card numbers, school name, and location on the Internet.
Cyberbullying is the term used for the use of repeated hostile behavior by a group of people or individual to harm another person on the Internet. Such institutions like Cyber Patrol, Family Online Safety Institute, the Internet Keep Safe Coalition, Connect Safely, and Safe Internet Alliance are dedicated to protect people from all kinds of Internet dangers including cyberbullying. Kids should be instructed that there’s nothing so threatening about threatening emails. When they come across any form of cyberbullying tactics, they should inform their parents. Like all other bullies, cyberbullies prey on the fears of the victims and they use a host of methods to pull the victims into their domain. Initially, they may be sweet and nice to win the trust of kids or even adults. Once they have something by which they can use to threaten or blackmail the victims, they will show their real colors.
When parents sense that their kid is feeling uncomfortable after accessing some type of Internet content, they should try to find out the reason. To do this effectively, parents have to be alert to their kid. If the kid makes new friends on the Internet, try to meet the new friend as well. Chat rooms and social networking sites are extremely unsafe for kids because many adults who are sexually interested in kids join these chat rooms and social networking sites to contact the kids. They can masquerade as kids to talk to the kids without them realizing that they have been cheated. If the parents are not quick to intervene, the kids and teens may be exposed to serious dangers where they could be murdered, raped, sold into prostitution, kidnapped, blackmailed, and so on. To protect the kids, it’s important to let them know that they have to be extra careful when they want to download something. In fact, it’s best that they ask for permission first. On the other hand, kids and teens shouldn’t be engaged in cyber sex and they shouldn’t be sending compromising pictures to other people. They should not forward mails with embarrassing content and they should be alert to the tactics of cyberbullies. Kids should not fill questionnaires just for fun and they should never accept any invitation to accept any strangers as friends.
