Social Networking - Is Your Child Safe While Surfing the Internet?

Did you remember the time your mom and dad said to you that you should not talk to any strangers? Of course, the very simple reason is that parents are real worried about their children. Children are truly vulnerable and can be easily deceived, especially the pre-teens. One cannot tell if someone is trying to be nice or if they have bad intentions. Hence, every normal parent or guardian would certainly teach their kids never to talk or give out information to someone they did not know. Until now, you even pass out the do-not-talk-to-strangers rule you inherit from your parents and set it upon with your very own kids.

However, as time flew like a blink of an eye, the danger of entertaining strangers or bad people who will lure away your loved ones encompass the new era of deceiving. These people do not literally approach your kids in the corner of the street or knock on your door. These people use the Internet as their transportation to enter your home. They lie in wait on the other side of the Web, hiding anonymously while your teenager slowly taking their bait.

As a parent, you may be wondering what’s wrong with Social Networking. Internet surfing and chatting is just another means to interact and get in contact with people you have not met before. Perhaps you even assume that it is great to get along with someone of different race, knowing their cultures and whatnot. And besides, you may even think that those people lives across the globe, thus there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

However, think again!

The growing and ever increasing popularity of social networking sites are demanding most of the time of our teenagers. Who in this world that does not have a Face Book or MySpace accounts? Even a 7 year old girl or a 40 year old dad has their own pictures to post. Almost all of their time is spent soaking up in front of the monitor, liking someone else’s status and commenting on each other’s pictures. And there’s the built-in chat system. Anyone who is in your network can chat or share links to you. At first glance it may seem wholesome, but who knows there will could be pedophiles in your child’s list that you have not actually notice, cloaking themselves under someone else’s identity. They could be chatting with your kids without your knowledge, and the next thing you know your child could already be hooked up with sex offenders. Every parent definitely doesn’t want that to happen.

Right now, I think it’s time to act, for the sake of the safety of our children and for the next generation to come. Do not simply teach them to call 911 during emergency. Teach them also to determine the real stranger, not only in real life but also in the virtual world. It’s time to give the word “stranger” a new definition, and let us all make sure that our child is safe while surfing online, be it in social networking sites or merely searching for information.