Online Safety (a Parents Guide)
I am an avid user of Facebook. I love the interaction with people that I would have completely lost contact with otherwise. I somewhat miss the days before all the crazy applications offered now though. Facebook has evolved from an adult social-networking site to an alternative to myspace for many teenagers. With that being said, I still thoroughly enjoy the site, but I do realize the dangers as well. With child predators all over myspace, it’s only a matter of time before they invade Facebook. As a parent, your #1 priority with your children’s relationship to the internet should be SAFETY. Facebook offers many ways in which to monitor your child. Some may be a little extreme, but I am just going to throw this out there. Take what you like; ignore what you don’t like. (For those that think their kid has a “right to privacy,” you should just stop reading now.) With that in mind, here is what I suggest:
1. Make your child’s profile private. You can do this by clicking on “privacy settings” in the settings bar in the upper-right hand corner of your home page. This will ensure that only your child’s friends can view your profile instead of those that are in their network (which could be hundreds of thousands of people). You may also remove your child’s name from any search results. The downside to this is that part of the reasoning behind a social-networking site is to connect people. Removing their name from any search results somewhat counter-punches the idea behind social networking.
2. You (the parent) set up the mobile application for your child’s Facebook account to YOUR (the parent’s) cell phone. You may select to have every private message (which is the only thing that is truly “private”) sent to your cell phone as a text message. This can be done through that same settings bar, then select “account settings” then “mobile.” Some may argue that this is a violation of a child’s privacy…sorry. I didn’t know a child under the age of 18 had privacy other than in dressing themselves. Sue me.
3. Of course, you should have your child’s password. If they have a problem with it, then they have something to hide. If they have something to hide, you (as a parent) have something to punish.
4. Encourage your child to NEVER accept a friend request of someone they are not POSITIVE that they know. Whenever someone sends a friend request to you, you may view their profile page before accepting or declining their request. That way you can check that person’s info to see if you really know them or not. We live in a sick world, people! Don’t allow a teenager to randomly accept any friend request they get!
5. DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT put personal information in the INFO section of your profile! I have literally seen 12 and 13 year old girls’ profiles that have their home address, cell phone number, and home phone number listed for everyone to see. How ignorant! People are just asking for trouble.
With all this being said, don’t be afraid of social networking. Use it for what it was intended to be used for. If you are a private person, then be very private and vague on these types of sites. If you are a social butterfly, then use Facebook to its full potential. Above all, let’s keep our children safe on the internet.
Article written by Joshua Cox, an avid technology user, husband, father, and teacher. He blogs regularly at his blog JoshuaCoxOnline.
