All children should be educated about a few common dangers on the Internet, and how to avoid falling prey to on-line crime and fraud.
Be careful while signing up for a website or creating a profile. Ask an adult about what information you should divulge.
Sensitive personal details include your name, age, phone number, address, school name, and email ID.
Choose your user ID or screen name carefully and avoid using personal details in it. Chat room logs are monitored, so be cautious while chatting online.
Maintain extra caution when you chat with strangers online. Do not allow them to get too close, or contact you in person.
Ignore and delete text messages and emails from people you do not know. Take the help of an adult for the first few times you chat online.
. Do not download files or programs without the consent of a supervising adult.
. Avoid people who try to harass you, or say something inappropriate.
. Beware of fraudsters who use false identities to lure and victimize gullible kids.
. Do not try to replace real-life relationships with online conversations and friendships.
. Get an adult’s approval before you purchase any item online.
. If you make an online friend, inform your parents about it.
. Exit the chat room immediately if a conversation becomes uncomfortable.
. Do not post your pictures online or email them to strangers.
. Avoid visiting dubious sites and clicking on links that seem suspicious.
. Do not reveal your passwords to anybody.
. Beware of ‘trolls’ and ‘flames’ who try to provoke you with bad language or insults.
. Be courteous and polite to others online to earn their respect. Do not use bad language in a chat room as your account could be terminated.
. Avoid opening email attachments from strangers and delete suspicious emails immediately.
You could end up downloading viruses or revealing sensitive personal information if you are not careful online.
Parents, look into credit monitoring companies like LifeLock to keep your children’s identity safe, so their identities won’t be compromised by identity thieves.
Following these tips suggested in this article will help ensure your security and privacy in big bad cyber space.
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This is so depressing, but of course very useful too. Children need to be taught how to surf safely and parents need to know what sort of dangers are out there. Some parents don't even know what to look out for because social sites change all the time and it's hard to keep up. The technical knowhow of today's kids means that parents need to learn a lot of stuff before they can even begin to protect their children.
Parents need to be proactive and teach their kids about internet safety. There are a lot of strange people that will prey on children. Education is key to stop this problem from getting worse.
Great article! This is something that wasn't really an issue when I was a kid, as not many people had the internet, and these crimes hadn't really evolved yet. Because, this wasn't an issue when I was a kid, most parents are aware of all the potential risks that children face when surfing the net. before you allow any child to use the net, they should be taught about the risks, and how to surf responsibly - I really hope this is now taught in school, but I'm not actually sure that it is. Thanks again for sharing.
Hi Kelly, I too didn't have to worry about this issue since the internet was not around. Now with social media taking over our daily thoughts and actions, identity thieves or predators can reach children and exploit them quite easily. Parents need make it a priority to teach their children the importance of not sharing any pertinent information with anyone, especially with people they do not know. I think the idea of teaching children in school is a wonderful idea. I will look into this....
Keeping children safe online is one thing. Being able to teach them how to keep themselves safe is another story. If they are more aware of the signs that things are not right while online, then they will be a step ahead of anything that can be malicious. It is bad enough that we cannot trust that criminals will not target them and what they do online.
Well said Damon, I just put that in the reply above yours. Awareness is key for children to stay away from these evil people.
When I was in highschool (that was when the data connections to the internet were not as fast and when Friendster was still very relevant).. There was a girl who got raped because she just chose to meet with a "guy" who she knew from the Friendster site.. Although the guy who raped her got reported to the police, it was not a good idea to begin with. Meeting with someone you do know much about and at an age like that.. Good thing there are now bigger measures and this issue is being addressed better in the present.. Because back then, oh man.. it was just chaos.
Schools need to make it mandatory to teach young children to never talk to strangers online. Education goes a long way from allowing horror stories like yours becoming a reality. That's why I love Metlife Defender for families with young children. They have software that monitors children for cyber predators. It's a wonderful program
Man I wish someone had educated me about the online world when I was young. I was sooo gullible, had no idea of all the creeps out there, I believed anyone that would talk to me. Kids need to be taught about the internet, it's a scary world out there unfornutely. You never know who you're talking to.
This is an extremely important subject for parents to be aware of. Kids are getting access online at earlier and earlier ages, and the dangers are real! I had the privileged of visiting the local FBI online fraud and internet protection agency on a special (and highly secured) field trip with a parent at our school and the information they devoured was scary. It was local crime, predatory in nature, and aimed directly at our kids. Everything that you have mentioned above, was taught to us during this visit. Parents must monitor and be aware of online dangers for children, and teach safe surfing internet surfing techniques. They must be proactive to learn the precautionary measures listed above, and teach them to their children. This was a great article, and covers a topic that is extremely important to me, as a mother of three. Thank you for sharing!
I really loved this article because I also surf on internet.This article is very helpful for me.
Thank you very much staff writers.
I am a busy person and sometimes I don't have time to monitor on how and what my kids are doing in the internet. This program will help me avoid my kids from sites that they aren't allowed to visit. Thank you for posting this.
This article is great! One time I caught my sister chatting with a stranger and I was really worried because sometimes she is always in here room and avoid her friends. I confront her and she told me everything what was happening. Nowadays social media scares me and with this article it will help other big sister like me and parents on how to educate their kids about internet.
I am so glad the internet was in it infancy when I was a kid and even more thankful I don't have any kids of my own yet. The amount adults get scammed on the internet is terrifying enough but I can't even imagine letting a child onto the web today without watching everything their doing.