Despite all the age restrictions imposed by social media sites on kids below TOS age, especially Facebook, kids are still finding ways to get their accounts. Age restriction normally belongs to adult, thus even “legal” use of these social-networking sites put young people on them. And as we all know, wherever the kids are, bad and opportunistic people will always try to find them.
Idle summer means more time for your kids to spend in front of the computer and browsing online, and whatever they do, whether it’s playing online games, flash games, surfing the internet, video streaming, chatting with friends, etc, they surely will spend long hours in that computer. As a parent, last thing you want is to let the internet and computer cause any harm to your kids. But do you really know who your kids are talking to – or in some cases, does your child even know who he/she is communicating with?
The statistics published by NetLingo,com shows 71% of teenagers from ages 13 to 17, have received direct messages from total strangers in their social-networking accounts. 76% of parents have no rules imposed for the use of computer, and according to the research of the site, there’s a big chance for kids to fall victim from these opportunistic individuals.
Judi Westberg Warren, president of Web Wise Kids, emphasize the importance of ensuring kid’s safety online. Along with Ask.com and NASCAR, Web Wise Kids are promoting school programs to teach elementary students across the world the importance of safe web surfing.
Threatening kids to disconnect from the internet is what usually scares them most and forces them to hide things from you. Westberg Warren says, “The most important thing to remember is to use a team approach with kids and not threaten to disconnect them from the Internet.”