Tag Archives: Facebook

General Safety Issues

TEN WAYS TO MONITOR YOUR KIDS USE OF THE INTERNET (GUEST POST)

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By Olivia Lewis, of NannyNewsNetwork.com

Children today are growing up with the Internet as a regular part of life, yet the World-Wide-Web was fairly new when their parents were young. Along with all the fun and informative things available to children online, a serious danger also lurks. Internet predators like to use the anonymity of the Internet, and are constantly on the lookout for innocent victims.

It’s important for parents to be aware of the ways sexual predators troll for kids online. Here are 10 things to watch out for to keep your kids safe on the Internet.

  1. Online games – One place Internet predators connect with kids is online games. They will choose games that are popular with the age group they prefer and pose as other kids to foster a friendship with children. Predators will watch for gamer names that indicate the gender, location or other information that is useful to them.
  2. Chat rooms – Sexual predators will pose as kids in chat rooms that are popular with children. This is an easy way for them to garner information and target unsuspecting youngsters. Once they gain a child’s trust, they may try setting up a meeting in person.
  3. Facebook – Parents need to be very careful about whether or not they allow their children to have their own personal Facebook accounts. This is prime hunting grounds for Internet stalkers who target kids. It’s very easy for them to set up fake Facebook pages and “friend” teens and preteens.
  4. Twitter – Social media is a great way for pedophiles to connect with their victims, and Twitter is no exception. Many young people use tweeting as their primary form of communication, and predators know this and go where the kids are.
  5. Websites for kids – Parents may think websites like Disney and PBS Kids are safe for their children to frequent, but predators like to frequent them too. What better place is there to find lonely kids who want to chat?
  6. Instant messaging – Since emails will linger in an account until they’re deleted, Internet predators prefer to use instant messaging that disappears once the window is closed. This makes it harder for parents to monitor who’s talking to their kids and what they’re saying.
  7. MySpace – Some consider MySpace one of the worst sites for online predators who want to connect with children. The online surveys are fun to fill out, but they also provide lots of information that can be used to gain trust with unsuspecting youngsters.
  8. Pictures – Parents need to educate their children on how pictures posted online can be used by sexual predators. It helps them to identify kids who fit their personal preferences, and any picture posted online can be used and manipulated by anyone. Child pornographers are constantly monitoring the Internet for potentially suggestive photos of children.
  9. Target the vulnerable – Internet predators are constantly on the lookout for vulnerable children that they can exploit. Kids that are lonely, unhappy, who are having difficulty with school, or who have poor relationships with their parents are easy targets. They also like kids who are willing to keep secrets from their parents or other authorities.
  10. Use coded language – The shortcut language that kids use for texting makes it harder for parents to readily understand what they’re saying. Just glancing over their child’s shoulder, a text message can look like gobbledygook, so parents need to learn this coded language to help keep their kids safe. You better believe the Internet predators know exactly what texting shortcuts mean and how to use it to gain a child’s trust.

Being aware of the inherit risks that the Internet poses to innocent children is the first step parents who want to keep their children safe need to take. Parents need to educate themselves and their children about the dangers of Internet predators as they teach them how to use the Web. Establish rules and guidelines for computer and cell phone use, and keep the computer in a common area easily observable by parents and siblings. Use online tools for privacy settings and set up parental alerts. Parental involvement is the key to protecting your children from online sexual predators.

Parents, please pay attention to this advice.  All too often we hear of a child becoming a victim through the internet. Pat

General Safety Issues, Home Safety Products

THREE THINGS YOUR TEEN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA AND HOME SECURITY

Raising teens presents some special challenges for parents.  You know that your child still needs your protection, but teenagers are growing more concerned with their independence and at times want to be on their own.  Furthermore, teens today are more increasingly involved with social media, which means they are susceptible to those who may have an identity other than what they claim from behind a computer screen.  Of course, there are ways you can keep your teen safe both at home and when he or she is online.  You need to make your teen aware of a few things so that he or she stays safe. 

1.         Some Information Should Not Be Posted on Facebook

You would be hard pressed to find a teen that is not connected to Facebook.com in some way.  Even though users must be at least 14 before creating an account, you will still find lots of teenagers using the social medium.  However, there are a few things you need to make sure you tell your teen not to post on the site.  These include:

  •            Birthday
  •            Explicit or Potentially Embarrassing Photos
  •            Extended or Short Vacation Plans
  •            Home Address
  •            Mother’s Maiden Name
  •           Phone Number
  •           Photos of the Home
  •           Place of Birth
  •           Searchable Public Profile

Information such as this can be used by identity thieves and burglars.  Furthermore, this type of information can leave your teen as a target by pedophiles and stalkers.  You can find more information about what not to share on these kinds of networks on sites such as howstuffworks.com. 

2.         Know How to Use a Home Security System

You may invest in a wireless home security system such as those you find at lifeshield.com to protect your family.  However, you need to consider that your teen can be home alone at certain times and may need to get in and out of the house securely when you are not there.  In this case, you need to trust your teen with any security codes needed for safe entry into the house.  You may also have to impose some ground rules such as limiting the amount of guests your teen can have over at one time while you are away and not allowing guests in certain areas of the home or property. 

3.         Be Careful About Using Apps

Since smartphones and mobile devices continue to grow in popularity, you will find that many teens are using them to document every aspect of their lives in cyberspace.  This can be especially dangerous when using geo-location apps and services or services such as Foursquare.  A friend can check in to your home and make it a public location with this kind of app.  While these may be fun for your teens to use and tell everyone where they are and who they are with, they can let cyber stalkers keep track of them and also inadvertently announce when they are and are not home.  You need to make your teen aware of how social media is connected to home security. 

Jennifer Kurtz is a stay-at-home mom who writes about Technology and Lifestyle on her blog.  She worked in marketing before her son was born, and keeps up with the tech field through her blog.  She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, her 2-year-old son, and a cat named Einstein.

Jennifer, this is excellent advice for the parents of teens.  Our world has become too dangerous to take chances, and parents should monitor what their teens are doing online, and other social medias, as much as possible.  Thanks again. pb

 

 

General Safety Issues

SEVEN BAD HABITS KIDS PICK UP FROM FACEBOOK

Guest Blog by Martina Keyhell

You had to have seen this one coming: kids are picking up bad habits from their extensive use of social media giant Facebook. This can’t come as too big of a surprise though, because it stands to reason that something so popular and fun would be bound to have some ill effects. Not that we’re condemning Facebook, mind you, but there are a few potential pitfalls to watch out for regarding your child’s usage. The following are seven bad habits that kids pick up from Facebook:

  1. TMI – To be honest, many of us are already guilty of grossly over-sharing our personal lives on Facebook. When you have a place to update your status 24/7, though, it shouldn’t come as any real surprise that eventually one’s entire personal life is right there for anyone and everyone to read on their profile.
  2. Inappropriate Friending – It tends to be an automatic reaction for some to “friend” someone after they’ve added you, accompanied by the friend confirmation request, whether this person is someone you know well or not. While they may not like the idea of saying ‘no’, safety should have a higher priority than popularity.
  3. Posting Inappropriate Photos – Inappropriate photographs always seem to find their way onto people’s Facebook pages. For that matter, taking such photos in the first place is ill-advised, to say the least. Coupled with the prospect of being friended by stalkers and strangers, not to mention being available for any potential employers or school officials, this makes for a very dangerous mix.
  4. Poor Time Management – It’s very easy to lose track of one’s time while socializing on Facebook, and hours at a time can be lost without even realizing it, often at the expense of more important things like homework, chores, etc. It may be wise to install a filter software that can monitor use and block certain sites during specified time periods to ensure that your kids don’t spend too much time on the website.
  5. Indiscriminate Downloading – Facebook is notorious for third party apps that seek to gain access to personal data and the friend lists of members who use them. There’s a large risk associated with accepting gifts via some of these apps, unfortunately, that could end up compromising your personal information.
  6. Poor Grammar – As with chat rooms, IM’s, and text messaging, all of which came prior to social media, Facebook posts can tend toward cyber shorthand, whether it’s in the interest of brevity or simply born out of sheer laziness. Although it’s acceptable – even necessary in some cases – to limit character usage, it’s very easy for this habit to leak over to your child’s more formal writing and correspondence.
  7. Not Safeguarding Personal Info – Facebook provides varying levels of privacy settings for its users. Members can share everything with anyone, or limit access to their profile to just friends and/or family. Kids today have become ok and even lax with the safeguarding of their personal information, and identity theft, stalking or harassment can end up being one of the penalties for your child being too open with his or her personal information.

You can read more of Martina’s advice for parents and youngsters Facebook is a very popular social network; it is a good way for old friends to locate long-lost associates.  However, many times young people have been cyberbullied by someone on social networks to the point of hurting themselves or taking their lives.  Teens and parents would be wise to follow this advice from Martina.