ALKHOBAR, 4 September 2007 — We teach our children to be safe in the real world — to look both ways before crossing a street, not to talk to strangers and other valuable life lessons. Parents also need to teach their children how to be safe on the Internet. Children, especially teenagers, want to chat and use social networking websites. They want to surf the Net and use e-mail. These applications all have value, but they all have dangers as well.
Here are some tips to help ensure your child’s safety on the Internet:
• Monitor computer usage. You wouldn’t let your kids go out at all hours to places unknown. Apply that same standard to their web use. Be aware of the sites they visit, at what times, and for how long. Ask them what they are doing at those websites and what they learn from online sources. Insist that a computer can only be connected to the Internet in the living room or family room of your home.
• Install firewalls and virus protection software, and consider installing specialized software that restricts access to adult or age inappropriate websites.
• Respect your child’s privacy, but be sure to ask with whom they are exchanging e-mails and instant messages. You don’t need to read their e-mails, but it’s important to know who their cyber buddies are.
• Making new friends in cyberspace is great, but children should be taught not to assume people are safe just because they appear to be nice online. Remind them that people aren’t always who they say they are. Emphasize to children that they should never to meet anybody in person whom they discovered online.
• Teach children never to share personally identifiable information — such as their name, address, phone number, passwords, school, etc. — when they are using bulletin boards, chatrooms or social networking sites. They should check with you before sharing any photographs, too.
• If your teen has a personal page on a social networking site like MySpace or FaceBook, visit it to see what they have posted about themselves and their activities. These pages are public and can be viewed by anyone on the Internet including pedophiles and university admissions staff.
• All social networking sites aren’t the same. Most of these services allow anybody to set up personal pages and create networks of friends they haven’t met in the physical world. Others offer supervision by moderating kids’ activities online. For greater safety insist that your child signs up only with a social networking site designed for younger users.
• Explain to your children to be open about sharing their online experiences with you. If they receive inappropriate e-mails, they need to know not to respond and to share them with you. If they see something on a website that upsets or scares them, they need to let you know. Assure them that you will not blame them for having encountered something disturbing in cyberspace.
The Internet will continue to be a central feature of modern life. Today’s young people will use it extensively in their adult lives. The Internet is a wonderful resource that can help children learn about the world and make personal connections — but it must be used responsibly and it’s a parent’s obligation to ensure that their children understand the benefits and limitations of the World Wide Web.
