Myspace and Your Child - Know the Dangers!

Myspace.com and other sites like it including Facebook.com and Xanga.com are massively popular with pre teens and teens. It's a place for them to express themselves, and network with over twenty million other users. But often kids unknowingly post information that can hurt them. Online predators are smart and abundant, constantly scouring these sites for provocative images of kids claiming to be older than they are, and boasting about their sexual escapades, real or fantasized. On a lesser scale, children can post ugly rumors aimed at peers, ruining friendships and lives. Another thing to remember, what is posted to the world wide web, will stay there forever. Anyone can read it at anytime. Things your child posts and blogs about can come back to haunt him or her later. Remember your own wild and crazy days as a kid, and be thankful that you didn't have access to the net to post these goings on for the world to see, forever! Courts and future employers can dig up evidence from, yes, Myspace. The best way to help your child is to be proactive.

If your teen is under 14, they should not have an account at all.

If they are 14 to 16, make sure their profile reflects this, as it will make only basic information available to all users. Accounts with users listed as over 16 can be viewed in full by anyone.

Monitor your child's computer usage, and regularly check up on their pages.

Remind them of the dangers lurking online. Some great articles on this can be found here and here.

Do not allow children to post personal information. Many teens see no problem in listing their full names, school name, home town, sometimes even a phone number!

Make sure your child understands the consequences of posting something to the web. Even when "deleted" these files are still stored somewhere in back up files, and downloaded files.

Stand firm against the whining and protests that you're invading their privacy. It is better to be safe than abundantly sorry. Never think, or allow your child to think that it can't happen to them if they aren't careful.