Encouraging Children to Use Caution When Engaging with Social Media

You would think that letting your children use social networking sites like MySpace, Friendster, Yahoo! 360, and others would be a great way for them to make new friends, learn more about the people they see at school, and expand their social circle. However, it's also possible for internet predators to use these sites to find, learn about, and target your children, putting them in harm's way.

The next natural question for parents is: What steps can I take to monitor my children's social media use?

Three things—one's identity, one's profile privacy, and one's photos—are crucial to answering this question.

Identity on a Personal Level.

Included in this are details on your children's schools, hobbies, names, addresses, phone numbers (both landline and mobile), email addresses, and more. Help children understand the dangers of sharing private information on online platforms. Break it down for them. That way, your children will be aware of the dangers.

What about the other option? Suggest that they use a handle instead of their full name, that they provide only the state or town as their address, and that they set up a separate email account specifically for this reason rather than using their primary one. Keep in mind that they should not make their phone numbers public. One must exercise caution while disclosing personally identifiable information on their profile.

Protection of personal information.

The majority of social media platforms provide users with the ability to lock their profiles. This way, only others with whom your children have a direct connection will be able to see the information they have included in their profile. This will further protect them from having their profile viewed by predators. Hence, remind your children to always use a strong password when accessing their profile.

Image gallery

In order to determine whether a user would make a good victim, online predators frequently look at user photographs. If you don't want your children to become victims, you should check all the photos they intend to upload to their profile. Verify that none of the images they share will show any immediately recognizable features, including street names, your front door, or license plate numbers, that could lead to their capture.

Additional suggestions for parents concerned about their children's safety on social media:

Establish firm boundaries about the time and frequency with which they are allowed to use these sites. See to it that you're in agreement on these. Make sure they know what will happen if they disobey this rule.

Internet predators prey on children's emotional vulnerabilities; thus, it's important to warn your children against sharing blogs about sensitive topics.

By the end of the day, sit down with your kids and grant you access to their profile.