Child Internet Safety

In the real world we do everything we possibly can to keep our children safe and secure. As now the risks and chances of getting hurt online is very real child internet safety has become equally important too which cannot be ignored anymore.

Times are changing and so also the online world which is ever changing. The internet use is not confined to desktop PC at home anymore but also to all kinds of mobile devices. This is not to say that ‘internet’ or ‘online’ is bad, as it has proven to be immensely useful in our lives. But like most things else there is a dark side of it too which compromises child internet safety.

Everything was going fine with the internet, the world had become smaller with the exchange and availability of information at a never before speed and ease. But reality is, perfectly ‘good’ world never exists and the online world is no exception.

The whole concern is that the online world provides the means for online predators targeting child and kids.

• The internet has facilitated making online friends easy, also creating false identities easy too.
• Cyberbullying, how some kids were led to even suicide due to it.
• Sexting, a relatively new term referring to sexually suggestive message, is practiced now.
• Uploading of photos and videos online and the potential harmful effects of it.
• There are bad content online which is not suitable at all for kids.
• Teens and mobile phones, they just cannot be seen without it now.
• Internet Addiction is now considered equivalent to any other type of addiction.
• How online reputation can be at stake as due to the various activities online.
• Kids and online commerce, and the harmful side of it.

Your kids and teens are at a very tender age where they need to be handled with care. They are vulnerable to real online threats. Child internet safety has assumed an importance of the highest priority as your kids future well being depends on it.

Many children has already been through sufferings as due to some activities online, with some very severe cases. News of children getting hurt due to what started with some activities online is not strange anymore, as the possibilities are very real and already happening.

The world needs to wake up to the fact that child internet safety is of utmost importance as the future world belongs to our child.

If you are a regular internet user, you have most probably heard of MySpace. It is a very popular social networking site frequented by many many users including kids and teens. Let us now take a look how it connects or relates to child internet safety.

If your kid frequently logs on to the internet he is probably using MySpace. You will be surprised just how many junior high school and high school students uses MySpace to communicate among friends, also to make new friends including online friends. There is nothing wrong with the use of MySpace for this purpose. It is just that due to the information posted by kids and teens on their profile at MySpace and thereby the exposure, it poses an increased risk to child internet safety. It is frequented by online predators too. For this reason it becomes important to monitor your child’s use of MySpace.

One of the main reason is because of internet predators, which are also often sexual predators. MySpace makes it easy for strangers to communicate with each other in a friendly way.  The internet in general makes it easy to be someone else, like someone a lot younger or someone a lot older. Your child’s friend online could actually be a 50 year old man or woman pretending to be someone their age.

Sit down with your child and make them understand the implications of putting up personal information online. Make doubly sure that they are not doing it so.

MySpace makes it convenient and easy for user to upload and post photos and videos. Kids naturally thinks it is cool to have their pics and videos on the net. Profiles which are public can be viewed by all. MySpace also records and displays the user’s location like city and state. Now if these are combined with your child’s name, school, photo, video, address etc, it could well attract online predators indeed.

We sometime do come across news of child internet safety being compromised. There has been news reports of kids, mostly teenagers who has been suspended from school, sports team, or even arrested. This is often the result of information in the form of text, photos, videos posted online revealing illegal activities like drugs, drinking underage and even stealing. Also there has been news of kids committing suicide as due to being a victim of cyberbullying.

Again sit down with your child and talk to them about the seriousness of the whole issue, the importance of child internet safety. Especially let them know very clearly that you are there for them and their safety is the most important thing for you.

After letting them know very clearly the Dos & Donts of using not only MySpace, but the various Social Networking Media, you still want to keep a track of your kids activities to be doubly sure that they are not in danger. It is always better to be careful than be sorry later. Avail of the service like that of SafetyWeb who are there for you in the area of child internet safety.