Social Networking Websites

How can I make it safer?

Setting things up…

  • Check your adolescent's social networking profile.
  • Learn how to adjust and/or increase privacy settings on your adolescent’s social networking profile.
  • Limit the amount of time your adolescent spends online.
  • Know your adolescent’s passwords, screen names, and the friends s/he is communicating with online.
  • Monitor your adolescent’s use of webcams as well as the posting and exchanging of pictures/videos online.
  • Monitor and verify any job offers made to your adolescent, and accompany her/him to interviews.

Important discussions to have…

  • Adolescents can appear very mature and ready to take on the world; however, adolescent brains are still developing and they do not have the capacity to properly deal with all situations.
  • Monitor your adolescent’s increasing independence. Even though adolescents may appear as though they can handle certain situations, they actually require and unconsciously seek adult guidance and supervision.
  • Explain to your adolescent where it is appropriate for her/him to have privacy: confiding in close friends face-to-face, writing in a paper journal, being in her/his bedroom, etc. Reinforce that there is no privacy on the Internet, emphasizing the public nature of the Internet.
  • Teach your adolescent that once pictures or information are sent over the Internet, control over what happens to them is lost. Tell her/him to be mindful of what is sent.
  • Teach your adolescent that it is illegal for people to manufacture, possess or distribute naked or sexually explicit pictures of children under 18 years of age. Explain that they need to tell a safe adult if they are presented with this situation.
  • Teach your adolescent that it is illegal for adults to offer her/him gifts or money in exchange for sexual activity.
  • Discuss with your adolescent the concept of dignity and self-respect and how it can be preserved or destroyed by messages sent online and offline.
  • Discuss with your adolescent the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships.
  • Explain to your adolescent that s/he should never meet someone in person that s/he first met online without a parent or guardian.
  • Discuss with your adolescent high-risk behaviour both online and offline and create 'what if' scenarios together to help her/him recognize dangerous situations and practice responses.
  • Encourage open communication and be aware of your adolescent's sensitivity to social judgment. S/he may be hesitant to share personal experiences.
  • Suggest to your adolescent that s/he review Respect Yourself, a website designed to teach teens about the risks they face when sending pictures or videos by email, Instant Messaging (IM) or by posting them online. This site guides teens through the risks and provides them with safety strategies to help keep them safe.
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