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Social networking sites can be accessed by anyone because they basically offer memberships for free. Hence, they may try to engage in social sites not fit for their age or acquaint themselves with people that will not be healthy for them. It is therefore a parents responsibility to make sure his/her son/daughter's social networking experience is a healthy one.
Introduction
"Do you know where your children are?" is a common things asked from parents concerning children. In the social networking sense it equates to "Do you know what social networks your kids are actively involved in - and who they're chatting with online?"
Social networking sites have evolved into a mainstream for kids, teens and adults alike. These sites encourage and facilitate information exchanges about people, picture and video sharing, and communication through blog and other instant messaging media with other like minded people or the whole community in general. Though the potential benefits of actively participating in social sites are very huge, we should all be aware of the risks and possible pitfalls the come with online social networking.
There are some social networking sites whose main target audience are pre-teens - kids ages 5-11 years old. These kid-focused sites implement rules and policies better fit for youngster and members usually go through a longer membership process than the regular teen and adult sites. There are still however, a number of things a parent can do to better make sure of your kid's online socializing safety. The law is well aware of this dilemma and has provided parents control over the type of information a kid can post or publish online.
The federal constitution has devised the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to govern sites directed to an audience of ages under 13. The COPPA also applies to sites who do not specifically target pre-teens but are aware that they are dealing with kids younger than 13. the COPPA requires such sites to get parental permission before they can start to collect, maintain, or use a kids' information. It also gives the parents the power to review their kid's online profile and blog pages and make necessary changes. The main problem lies in the fact that most parents fell outpaced by their technologically savvy kids and feel reluctance in approaching them about techie matters. Parents should know that there are still stuff they can teach their kid's to help them stay safe while socializing in the realm of cyberspace.
Help Kids Socialize Safely Online
1. Aid your kids distinguish what information should be kept confidential
Explain to them the reasons why some information about themselves, family members and friends are to be kept from the knowledge of other people. Tell them the possible harm divulging information like full name, Social Security number, street address, phone number, and family financial information - like bank or credit card account numbers - can cause. Advice them to choose a screen name or user name that does not give out way to much information.
2. Use privacy settings to restrict who can access and post on your child's website
Good social networking sites have strong privacy settings. Demonstrate to your kid how to utilize these settings to limit who can view their online profile, and explain to them its importance.
3.Explain that kids should post only information that you and they don't mind others seeing
Even after privacy settings have been put into effect, there are still some or even all of your kid's profile that outsiders or the general public can look at. Advice your child to think at least twice about what he will be saying in his blog or what pictures or videos he will be uploading. Employers, college admissions officers, team coaches, and teachers may view your child's postings and may provide a very valuable first impression. Even screen names can have big impacts. Advise kids to think about what others may think of their screen names.
4. Inform your kids that once they publish information online, they can't take it back
Even if they delete the information from a site, others would have already sen it, and older versions may exist on other people's computers and be circulated online.
5. Determine how your kids access the online social networking sites
More and more, kids are accessing the Internet through their cellular phones. Find out about the limitations you can place on your child's cell phone. Some cellular companies offer plans that limit downloads, Internet access, and texting; other plans permit kids to use those features only at particular times of day.
6. Tell your kids about online bullying
Online bullying can be executed in numerous forms, from circulating rumors online and posting or forwarding private messages without the sender's permission, to sending threatening messages. Let your kids know that the words they type and the images they post can have real-world consequences. They can make the target of the bullying feel bad, make the sender look bad - and, sometimes, can bring on punishment from the authorities. Encourage your kids to talk to you if they feel targeted by a bully.
7. Tell your kids to refrain from sex talk online
Recent research shows that teens who don't talk about sex with strangers online are less likely to come in contact with a predator. If you're concerned that your child is engaging in risky online behavior, you can search the blog sites they visit to see what information they're posting. Try searching by their name, nickname, school, hobbies, grade, or area where you live.
8. Advice your kids to trust their Instincts if they get suspicious
If they feel threatened by someone or uncomfortable because of something online, encourage them to tell you. You can then help them report concerns to the police and to the social networking site. Most sites have links where users can immediately report abusive, suspicious, or inappropriate online behavior.
9. Read sites' privacy policies
Spend some time with a site's privacy policy, FAQs, and parent sections to understand its features and privacy controls. The site should spell out your rights as a parent to review and delete your child's profile if your child is younger than 13.
Who am I?
I am who I am..
Our kids are exposed to more and greater threats online each year. As parents, it is our job to provide an Internet Child Protection Home Plan to effectively guard against this growing problem.
Consider these 3 action steps to get started:
#1. Take Steps to Get Educated on the Latest Internet Child Safety Threats
Depending on the age of your children you should take steps to keep updated on the latest threats and what's being done to prevent them. Fortunately, there are more and more watchdog groups that focus on these trends and you can access their findings online.
Accessing information on different Internet Child Safety Associations is as easy as typing in the phrase "Child Online Protection Association" plus the country or area you live in. Governments are continually working on this growing problem so checking online for this information can provide you with many resources to keep educated on the latest threats.
#2. Establish Internet Child Safety Guidelines at Your Home
Regardless of your children's ages, they need to have guidelines to protect them from harmful information, images and potentially criminal activities online.
Let you children know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. Also, by keeping computers in a common area of the home, you can carefully monitor their actions. Unfortunately, most children come across these sites without knowing it, so be sure to let them know what to stay away from.
Children must understand the potential dangers of predators on chat lines and to be careful about providing personal information or arranging meetings after school.
Other areas for discussion are cyber-bullying threats and sites with inappropriate images and hate information. You need to let them know to stay clear of those threats.
Establish an open dialog about what your children are working on. You need to know what they are learning and doing online to avoid the potential dangers.
#3. Install Parental Control Filtering Software and Keep it Updated
Using Parental Control Filtering Software will greatly reduce the risk of your child typing in a word that can bring up inappropriate sites which reveal sexually explicit or graphically violence images. They also help you to limit internet usage and monitor their activities.
Keeping updated on Internet Child Safety Practices and taking action to provide the latest Parental Controls within your home can make all the difference in shielding your loved ones from these crimes.
Internet child safety is within your control. Take steps today to ensure your family is secure from ongoing threats with Education, Setting Guidelines and Keeping Up-to-Date on the latest Parental Control Filtering Software.
Learn more about Parental Control Filtering at Child Online Protection Solutions to safeguard your family today.
PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq:CMCSA - News), announced today the findings of its Internet safety and security survey to assess the general knowledge, attitudes and behaviors among U.S. adults and teens. One of the highlights in the independent nationwide survey revealed that although 95 percent of parents believe it is just as important to talk about online safety issues with their children as it is to talk about sex education and the risks associated with drugs and alcohol, only 65 percent have actually had that discussion.
To help parents initiate these conversations with their children as they progress through different developmental stages - teens, tweens, school-age children and preschoolers, Comcast is raising awareness about new discussion guides created by Dr. Michael Rich, Director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston. The results of the survey and the new guides come as the nation recognizes National Cyber Security Awareness month in October.
“As the nation’s largest residential Internet service provider, we want to continue to provide tips and resources on ways consumers can stay safe online,” said Cathy Avgiris, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Communications and Data Services for Comcast Cable. “Some of the survey results were surprising because they showed that parents and teens may not be on the same page on a variety of online safety issues. As a result, we want to raise awareness about great resources for parents, teachers and caregivers to talk about how to be safe online with their kids or loved ones.”
Among other findings, the survey revealed that when using the Internet, 65 percent of parents say online security and safety is most important to them compared to only 46 percent of surveyed teens. This suggests teens are underestimating or are not fully aware of some of the risks associated with their online activities.
“Because a child’s exposure to and use of the Internet changes over time, it was important to create conversation starter guides for parents that represent the different stages of a child’s life,” said Dr. Rich. “For example, you can’t talk to a preschooler about the Internet the same way you would talk to a teen about the Internet. The short and simple guides that have been developed can help parents navigate talks about things like safety, the amount of time spent online and appropriate online behavior.”
The guides are available to everyone, not just Comcast customers, and can be downloaded for free at http://xfinity.comcast.net/constantguard/Education/For_Parents/The_Internet_Talk/?CID=661 or at the Center for Media and Child Health website at http://www.cmch.tv.
Additional survey highlights include:
Across various Internet-connected devices, including personal computers, laptops, tablets and smart phones, teens feel safer online compared to parents. Thirty-nine percent of teens feel their personal data is very safe and secure on a personal computer or a laptop compared to 25 percent of parents. For smart phones in particular, more than twice as many teens as parents believe their data is safe from hackers or cybercriminals. Teens’ use of passwords is riskier than parents. Teens are much more likely to use the same password for every online account than are parents. Twenty-three percent of surveyed teens report that they use the same password for their online accounts compared to 14 percent of surveyed parents. Roughly two-thirds of parents (66 percent) and teens (61 percent) believe they are in full control of what they post online and can take it down whenever they want. In fact, most parents and teens do not understand the reality that what goes online, stays online – and nearly three in 10 teens have posted something online that they later regretted. Parents vary on the appropriate age for a child to start using the Internet. Thirty-six percent of parents surveyed believe the appropriate age for a child to start accessing the Internet is between the ages of 10 and 13; 35 percent of parents believe the appropriate age is between 6 and 9 and 12 percent of parents think a child 5 years old and under is the appropriate age to start using the Internet. Parents are not aware of what their children are downloading on the Internet. Sixty-eight percent of teens surveyed say that they have downloaded a program or software without their parent’s permission. However, only 35 percent of parents surveyed believe that their children have ever downloaded a program or software without their permission.For more tips about Internet safety and to download four different Internet safety conversation starters, please visit http://xfinity.comcast.net/constantguard/Education/For_Parents/The_Internet_Talk/?CID=661.
For additional survey results, please visit: http://www.comcast.com/MediaLibrary/1/1/About/PressRoom/Documents/pdf/InternetSurveyChartsOct2011.pdf
Earlier this year, Comcast launched the Constant Guard? Protection Suite, the most comprehensive suite of online security and safety of any major Internet service provider in the U.S. The addition of the Constant Guard Protection Suite for Xfinity Internet customers and “The Internet Talk” guides for all consumers are further examples of Comcast’s continued efforts to promote Internet safety awareness and education. In addition, Comcast recently began rolling out Internet Essentials?, a program which offers families with children who are eligible to receive free lunches under the National School Lunch Program low-cost Internet service, affordable computers and digital literacy training.
About Comcast Corporation
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq:CMCSA - News) (www.comcast.com) is one of the nation's leading providers of entertainment, information and communications products and services. Comcast is principally involved in the operation of cable systems through Comcast Cable and in the development, production and distribution of entertainment, news, sports and other content for global audiences through NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is one of the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone providers to residential and business customers. Comcast is the majority owner and manager of NBCUniversal, which owns and operates entertainment and news cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, local television station groups, television production operations, a major motion picture company and theme parks.
*SURVEY CONDUCTED BY AN INDEPENDENT RESEARCH FIRM, PENN SCHOEN BERLAND (PSB) ON BEHALF OF COMCAST. NATIONWIDE 1,610 INDIVIDUALS WERE SURVEYED.
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