The latest Internet craze for teens and some preteens is going to require some vigilance from parents. I am referring to sites such as myspace.com, blogs, and the facebook pages where young people are posting their thoughts and--sometimes-- a little more information than they ought to.
One the one hand, there are some positive aspects to these sites. They offer an outlet for creativity and self-expression that children of this age group naturally crave. They also let children reach a larger group-- people outside of their circle of friends or community. In addition, many of the sites can be a mechanism where family members and friends can check in and communicate with each other.
On the darker side, there are obviously a number of risks involved with posting any kind of personal information on Internet sites which can be read by anyone with a computer. There are the usual horror stories about teens posting really inappropriate photographs and information, such as their names and addresses, that could be used by someone who might want to track down a child.
Here at school, we use blocking software and hardware, along with a lot of vigilance, to monitor what students are doing on the computers. That doesn’t mean that a student absolutely could not visit sites such as these at school, but we have not had any problems with it at SRES yet.
For you as parents, however, the problem of monitoring computer use in your home is much more complicated. Children are sometimes on the computer in fairly unmonitored situations. They may or may not understand the ramifications of posting a particular thought or picture or they may not understand who can look at material on the web. Parents do install blocking programs and hardware, but kids often know how to get around these mechanisms. It is a basic conflict-- we don’t want to give our children the message that we don’t trust them, but we need to monitor what they are doing so that they stay safe.
This is a sticky problem, but they there are some steps you can take to avoid problems:
l Educate yourself about the kinds of web sites that are attractive to teens and preteens and how they work.
l Consider purchasing blocking software or hardware to limit access to inappropriate material and remember to update it.
l Talk to your kids! Know what kind of sites they are visiting and why.
l If your child is posting material, visit the site and read it. Talk to you child about his or her postings.
l Become knowledgeable about what kind of Internet access your child’s friends have and who is supervising computer use in their homes.
It would seem that parents have plenty to worry about without electronic invaders to think about, too. However, with some vigilance and by maintaining an ongoing dialogue, you can keep your child safe and maybe even have a better opportunity to find out about the kinds of things he or she is thinking about.
| 