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TEENS INTERNET ABUSE
Internet is a wonderful form of technology. It provides information, which is helpful to your teenager in studies and general knowledge. The amount of resources and information the Internet contains is astounding. With the help of information collected on the net your child gains vast knowledge. Parents and children together can work to make the Internet a positive experience. However left alone your child can misuse this wonderful knowledge bank and with no rules or regulations, teens can discover surreptitiously how to commit crimes, see pornographic material and chat with unknown persons. Thus you as a parent must take precautions to see that your child does not abuse the internet access.
It is essential for parents to know about computers and be familiar with internet surfing. Often it happens that parents who probably know less about internet than their children. Ask your child to show you and share information they surf through Internet and find out the sites they like to visit. Check out the contents of the site and ensure that it is appropriate for your teenager. The location of your home computer may make a huge difference in the type of Web content your teenager surfs. If possible, put your home computer in the living room, family room or some high traffic area of your house so that you can always monitor the internet access. This will restrict your teen to abuse the internet access and if your teen knows at any given moment that someone may approach the computer while they are surfing the net, they will be more cautious and careful of their online activities. Try to avoid allowing your child to have a computer with Internet access in their room. However if they feel strongly about having a computer with internet access in their bedroom, make sure they keep their door open while they are online so that you can monitor their online activities.
The next step is to set up rules and guidelines that your child must adhere to when surfing the net or engaging in online activities. Make it clear that they are not allowed to go into unmonitored or private chat rooms to chat with strangers. Secondly monitoring where your child has been on the Internet. Restrict their amount of online "play" time. In addition to monitoring programs, you must also install blocking or filtering software. Become familiar with these two types of programs. Blocking software generally blocks unwanted or restricted Web sites from being accessed. Filtering software allows you to program prohibited keywords such as XXX, sex, adult, guns, bombs and cults. Under no circumstance your teen should give anyone his or her name, address or telephone number. Instruct your teen never to meet anyone in person whom they've met on the Internet.