Teens and the Internet

The Internet, Also known as the "information highway". What a great thing to have to do research or to find some great information on specific topics. The Internet has helped a lot of people find the answers that they needed, me included. You can look up Health information, TV shows, movies, definitions and a whole lot more. I know, it sounds really great, doesn't it? I believe that the Internet is a great thing if you use it properly. If you have children and teenagers, you need to be very careful of what you may be exposing your kids to.

More than half of American families use some sort of filter to protect their children from potentially harmful content. That is a 65% increase since the year 2000. Parents and teens both think that the majority of teens do something online that their parents would not agree with. It is becoming a scary world and keeps getting more scarier every day. 81% of parents say that teens are not careful enough with giving out their personal information online and 79% of teenagers agree with that. 65% of all parents and 64% of all teens say that teens do things online that they would not want their parents to know about. How scary is that?

Parents should tell their children or teenagers what they can and can't do online. Parents also need to try to be open to talking about anything with their teenagers. Let them know that they can come to you if any problems arise with anything. Parents might need to put the computer in a room where they can be seen. I would suggest not getting a web-cam if you have a teen with a computer in their room. Also, parents need to keep filtering the Internet. Maybe get some software that allows you to see exactly what they are doing. Parents need to learn everything they can about the Internet also. You want to protect them as much as you can.

I have children and one of them is going to be a teenager. I have taught myself a lot about computers and the Internet. I will fight to try to keep my kids safe for as long as I can. Online predators are a horrible thought but you have to think about that so you can keep your kids safe too. I hope that I have at least helped someone.

Source: http://www.pewinternet.org/ppf/r/152/report_display.asp