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Teenagers and the Internet

Most parents forget the cardinal rule when it comes to children and computers: they put the computer in the bedroom rather than in a common area, and lose their strongest defense against problematic use of the Internet. Once the child has had the computer in their private space, it can be a real challenge to change this set up. However, if you suspect your child has been using the Internet in an inappropriate manner, moving the computer into an area where they cannot hide their activities can help curb the temptation to break the rules.

The most common issues parents face with teens and their computers...

Internet Addiction

Your teenager spends every free moment on the computer. They might play games either alone or with others over the web, chat online, instant message, or just surf. Most of this activity is not related to school work. You often see a glassy-eyed kid who might seem "out of it" because of their intense Internet activity. School work might begin to suffer. You find yourself telling them to get some fresh air or interact in the real world with friends.

Illegal Internet Activities

Some kids with a knack for the technical (writing code or manipulating software) might fall in with the wrong group and start doing what they think is harmless of simply mischievous hacking or other activities that might put them at risk of violating the law. This could range from downloading illegal software (copyright infringement), hacking other Internet users computers or even company systems, to spreading viruses. Most Internet users will tell you they receive more viruses during the Summer--when are most kids out of school and spending more time on their computers? Some of these activities could be prosecutable either locally or federally.

Pornography & Risky Chatting

Teenaged boys tend to be more intent on investigating porn sites online. If they also download illegal (cracked) software, there may be pornography links popping up on their computers constantly. There is a strong association between sites that offer cracked or otherwise illegally copied software and pornography sites. These sites use porn ads to earn revenue for click throughs from their sites.

Risky chatting tends to occur more often among young teenaged girls. They might be preyed upon even in chat rooms dedicated to teenagers. Pedophiles often frequent chat rooms where they know children and teens will spend much of their time.

Prevention & Education

Parents must educate their teens about these risks. One of the most important things teens need to understand is that they are not as anonymous as they would like to think they are when on the web. If they have any instant messaging services or frequent chat rooms, they should keep most of their information anonymous. They should never use their last name, should not identify the city where they live, birthdate, the name of their school, or other identifying information. Predators can be very clever when they want to track down a chat buddy in the real world. They can also easily trick a young person into thinking they are also a teenager. Your children need to know that if anyone makes them uncomfortable by pushing for more information or by making inappropriate comments that they should take down as much information about the user as possible for their parents to follow up on.