Teens and Social Networking Websites

What is a social networking website? Social Networking Websites cater to teens now age 13, but also to adults. This is a web-based form of communication among friends, family and others. Social networking websites provide a computer-based (or virtual) network of friends to form a community and communicate amongst each other, or to seek out others in which to correspond. Is this dangerous, especially for our children and teens? Absolutely! It has been quoted in many publications that social networking communities provide a "breeding ground for internet predators." Are all social networking websites bad? Not necessarily. Below are some of the positives that social networking websites have as well as the cons they also provide.

Pros

How social networking sites can be helpful to kids or teens in school? Students are able to post comments, visuals, formulas, and helpful hints, related to class activities in school for homework assignments and projects. Schools will use a blog format to publish its announcements, events and activities or newspaper. This enables students to stay more in touch, as well as allow them to post comments and enables them to access information they may need for a particular project. An author of a blog can post as a way to express their comments on a particular reading and/or writing. Teens who are interested in certain authors or topics have a way to keep up on the author's work or specialized topics.

Have social networking sites reached no boundaries? There are endless possibilities for these websites, teachers and students from all over the country can work together on a topic to create a unit of study either in Science, English or Math. There are truly good uses for social networking sites. The above lends some discussion to help educate people on the good uses of social networking sites as opposed to the bad things that arise from their use.

Cons:

Do predators have access to minors on social networking websites? Absolutely. Predators will lure kids who are willing to discuss their problems in an online support forum with other kids. Predators look for kids who exhibit this behavior. They give kids attention; they show friendliness and are very understanding and responsive. They will know all the latest popular music and interests to discuss with kids forming a bond in common. They reach kids in chat rooms, blogs, email and instant messaging. They will devote a lot of their time and energy to building a relationship with their targets and will go as far as providing gifts as a lure. Empathy is one of the biggest emotions of their lure because teens are exploring their sexuality and are starting to move away from mom and dad and are eager to start relationships outside the family.

Here is the scary part: Internet Predators will try to break down kids inhibitions by trying to introduce sexual content into conversations or by sending them sexually explicit material. Some spend more time than others do in their attempts. Therefore, if your child is approached online by someone who they do not know, who immediately wants to discuss sexually explicit conversations chances are they do not want to be speaking with that person. They also will try and evaluate how easily they can convince them to meet offline.

Are there other risk factors in belonging to a social networking website? Absolutely. This allows your child or teen to be bullied very easily by classmates, neighbor kids they know and kids they do not know. Cyberbullying is a huge issue in America right now. Although, bullying has taken place as far back as one can remember. Kids who are bullies now have easy access to exhibit their bullying behavior online. Girls especially seem to take the roles of cyberbullies. Most commonly to settle a dispute with another girl about a boy.

Guidelines for parents to be aware of when your teen or child joins a social networking website and this is even true for some of the more unpopular sites or sites that maybe used in school or the libraries.

1. Follow the age guidelines provided by social networking websites. Allowing a child to join a social networking website is definitely a parental decision based on your comfort level with you and your child. Below are some suggestions:

2. Follow the safety guidelines provided by each site, but always talk to you teen before they register and design their profile. Keeping their profile private is essential.

3. If you have a young child it is recommended that they do not use chat rooms - they are just too dangerous. If your children are old enough to be in chat rooms, try to encourage monitored rooms. No private one-on-one chats. If you can install monitoring software, it is highly recommended because without it you will truly not know what is being said online or what risk factors your children face.

4. AOL and some others have great parental controls built in - others do not - so it is good to check with your ISP to find out.

5. The computer should be in visible site to parents. No computers in the bedroom. When the computer monitor is visible to the common area of the household less is likely to happen. Sit with your child when they are online, this is a great opportunity for parents to see how much their children know about social networking sites and how they work.

6. Talk to them about not responding to IMs, emails and other private forms of communications from strangers. A household email address is recommended instead of private ones if your children are young.

7. Always remember if they are being monitored at home, it does not mean they are monitored at a friend's house, school or library. Make sure you find out what type of monitoring is used in those locations.

8. Never let them download any images from someone they do not recognize. Tell your child to tell immediately if something happens online to make them feel uncomfortable. The number one reason most parents have no idea if something suspicious or bad has happened is because kids do not tell. It is never their fault and should be expressed to them that way.

9. Tell them never to reveal personal information about themselves or the family. MySpace has a place on their profile for school name, sexual orientation, age, and gender etc. You do not have to fill in answers to those sections.

What to do if your believe your child has been targeted? Get in touch with your local law enforcement or contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Save any and all chat logs, emails, Instant Messages, website addresses, anything and everything could be helpful to police. Check your computer for pornographic files and/or any type of sexual communication. Remember internet predators typically meet kids in chat rooms first and then continue through emails and instant messaging. Instant Messaging logs can be very easily recorded on a computer.

Watch for behavior signs in your kids, if they are not telling you what is happening to them online. Look for changes in behavior as far as withdrawing from the family and school activities. They tend to show signs of depression, if they are being victimized or bullied. Use parental control products as tools of learning and safety.

Denise Pellow, in June 2006, created KidsBeSafeOnline LLC. She is passionate about educating parents regarding technologies and its interaction with youth. Denise is an entrepreneur, Internet safety speaker, advocate, and educator. Most recently, Denise is also the author of The Five Dangerous Trends Concerning Kids, Technology and the Internet. Her websites are http://www.kidsbesafeonline.com and http://www.attentionparents.com designed to educate parents, teachers and the community concerning kids, technology and the Internet.