Keeping Kids Safe in Cyberspace
Parental Management for Chatting, Texting and Social Networking
Feb 6, 2009
With teens sending thousands of text messages monthly, chatting online and posting on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, most parents are concerned. That’s why many parents are fighting for the welfare of their children, setting rules and boundaries when they give them cell phones and laptops to communicate with their peers.
Learn Texting and Instant Messaging Lingo
With the popularity of texting and instant messaging, thousands of chat abbreviates have replaced everyday words and phrases. Often teens use these chat abbreviations to hide their online activities from their parents. To protect their kids, parents need to be informed on some of the most common abbreviations and online lingo terms. For example, kids use the abbreviation “POS” (parent over shoulder) to warn one another of an approaching parent. Another common one is ”CD9” or “Code 9” meaning parents are around.
Managing Texting
Warn your kids about the dangers of texting while driving, Alarmingly, almost 46 percent of teens text while driving according to a recent study by the American Auto Association (AAA).
Learn the lingo. Parents concerned about the excessive time spent texting can take advantage of programs that help control the amount of texting a teenager does. For example, AT&T’s Smart Limits lets parents manage texts a kid can send and receive by using an online account. Another parental control is My Mobile Watchdog, allowing parents to both read and view pictures their kids send and receive on their cell phones.
Set up Rules for Social Networking Safety
- Private vs. public page - Insist your teen’s social networking page is private and not public.
- Monitor your child’s page - Warn your child you plan to check out his (or her) page regularly. Also stress how once you post information online it can’t be retrieved.
- Discuss what can't be posted online - Caution your teen that inappropriate material placed on a social networking website can hurt his future. For example, a beer can placed on his Myspace page could mean a scholarship rejection or not getting a good job. Explain to your child how college recruiters and employers can easily find a social networking page that could be embarrassing.
- Tell your child to limit his number of “friends” – Explain how accepting too many friends into his social networking page can be risky. Tell your child that adding friends shouldn’t be a popularity contest to see who has the most friends. Caution how strangers can weasel their way into his life, stealing information or luring him into precarious situations.
Additional Safeguards
- Remove bedroom computers – Don’t allow any computers behind closed doors. By letting your child go online in a room with a door that shuts is dangerous. Instead have the computer in an open room such as the family room where he can’t hide what he’s doing.
- Check postal mail – If your child receives postal mail from strangers, don’t give it to him until he can explain who the person is who sent it. Then, don’t allow him to open it privately.
- Question strangers calling your child – Besides checking your child’s cell phone for unfamiliar names and numbers, check your home caller ID for unfamiliar numbers. If someone, especially with an older voice, calls your home asking for your child, ask your child how he knows the person.
Finally, fit more family time into your teen's life so he won't be so chained to his electronic toys. For example, invite your teen to join you for weekly Saturday breakfasts. Not only will he spend less time online, but you'll enter his world and be more available when he needs to share his problems.
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