Teenagers and Online Forms

Is your teenager really being safe online? Sure they may say their safe, and think that their safe, but here is otherwise.

On the internet, now to sign up for anything, you must input personal data, as in information about yourself. For most sites it's your name, sex, home address, home phone, etc. Websites want this information so they can know a bit about their users, and where their users are from, and what sex they mostly appeal to.

Most teenagers know that they just want to know a bit about you, so they don't think twice about giving out personal information. They think "oh, it's just one site, who cares!" or "it's no big deal, there not going to do anything with it." But the truth is, it is a big deal. Some sites sell this information, and then no one knows who might buy it, or what they may do with it.

In particular, teens often give away their information to join popular sites that their friends use, or on sites that claim they can make you money, and things like this. But often these sites ask for more information then they should need, but teens don't seem to notice, they just want to join their friends, or start making money.

This is where adults may need to come in. Adults need to explain to their kids that they can't always be giving out their personal information. As if some one gives out their information enough times, chances are that sometime soon they will give it out to the wrong person, and then they could become a victim of identity theft, which can make life much more difficult.

Adults need to inform their children about the dangers of giving out their personal information, and what it means if their identity gets stolen. Teens rarely give a second thought to giving out personal information, and this needs to change.

Another thing that adults need to educate their kids about is that they shouldn't give out their cell phone number online to get "free" messages. If a person gives out their cell phone number online, there could be charged for it, as in on their cell phone bill. There are sites out there that claim you get your fortune told, or that you get a free Xbox 360, or that you get free ringtones. A teenager when seeing this will think "it's free, so why not!" but really what these companies do is in the small text, charge your phone $1.50 per message, or per ringtone, but a teenager, being them self, didn't read the small text and is all of a sudden being charged hundreds of dollars a month for these services, with no way to stop these services.

So parents, be sure to educate your teenager about giving away personal information, identity theft, and altogether, on online safety.