Never Too Safe Online Options

[Im So Vain]

In my recent issue of Teen Vogue there was an article about how, more teens are looking for love online. On sites like match.com, friendster, craigslist. makeoutclub, myspace, etc.

According to a September 2004 Dateline NBC report, one in five teens who chat or date online will be contacted by an online predator. As part of the show's investigation, a reporter and a team of volunteers created a fictional 14 year old Brooklyn girl who e-mailed with men in cyberspace. "She" eventually made plans to meet them for sex, In the course of a single afternoon more than eighteen men showed up at a house where they thought the young girl would be waiting alone for them. (Instead, they were greeted by Dateline reporters.)

QUESTIONS TO GET STARTED:
1.)Should the minimum age to have an online personal be raised?

2.)Should parents have more control over their childs internet access?

*Fell free to add anymore thoughts you have, beyond the two questions.

[M16A4]

Don't have a thing to say about one (yet), but as for two...

2. Parents already have the ability to monitor what kids do on the Internet using the same software companies use to keep track of what their employees do online: Spy programs. Most programs can monitor keystrokes, take screenshots, and can even mail you the logs to an e-mail of your choosing. However, parents: You're increasing the risk of your kid(s) going "WHAT, YOU DON'T TRUST ME? I HATE YOU FOREVER" if they should ever find out, and confronting them about this sort of stuff is unwritten, at best.

The only advice I would give is to teach them right from wrong FROM the beginning and your kids will work out this sort of thing by themselves. I've never been talked about online predators, but that doesn't mean I'll go whoring myself on the Internet.

[*mipadi*]

2. Parents already have the ability to monitor what kids do on the Internet using the same software companies use to keep track of what their employees do online: Spy programs. Most programs can monitor keystrokes, take screenshots, and can even mail you the logs to an e-mail of your choosing. However, parents: You're increasing the risk of your kid(s) going "WHAT,  YOU DON'T TRUST ME? I HATE YOU FOREVER" if they should ever find out, and confronting them about this sort of stuff is unwritten, at best.

Monitoring doesn't necessarily have to entail surreptitious monitoring; it can be as simple as having a computer in a "public" location in the home, and the parent periodically monitoring a child's activities online. Trust isn't inherent; it must be earned. I'm not saying a parent should constantly read over her child's shoulder, but a child should also not assume that he should have unlimited privacy while online.