Real Life Stories
Luring Through Social Networking Sites
A 16-year-old girl was approached through a popular social networking site by a 35-year-old man. The man sent repeated requests to the youth to arrange to meet in order to have sex with her.
What does this mean?
Sexual offenders target social networking sites where children and adolescents are encouraged to create online diaries and connect with new people. Adolescents may accept friend requests from individuals they have not met in person. Individuals looking to victimize adolescents may quickly turn conversations sexual, asking personal questions about puberty and development.
An adolescent may engage in private conversations and share private information on social networking sites, unaware of the lasting consequences. Once material is sent online, control over what happens with the material is lost, and subsequent exposure of the adolescent can be devastating.
What can I do?
Adolescents can appear very mature and ready to take on the world. However, teen brains are still developing and they do not have the capacity to properly deal with all situations. Even though adolescents may appear as though they can ‘handle’ certain situations, they actually require and unconsciously seek adult guidance and supervision.
Explain to students that they should never meet with someone in person that they first met online without a parent or guardian.
Check out our Popular Activities section for more information on technologies being used by adolescents and how to make them safer. Also check out our Manipulative Relationships section to learn more about subtle forms of manipulation and how you can talk to students about these.