It’s Time To Discuss Internet Safety
Parents don’t have a complete understanding of the perils inherent in social media, but we want to protect our children from danger. Internet monitoring is the response to our fear, enabling parents to see every key stroke that our teens type or text. Two parents, one teen and two professionals weigh the pros and cons of Internet monitoring.
PARENT 1
What is a dad to do to protect his daughter in the age of the internet? After discovering several inappropriate messages from boys on his 13-year-old daughter’s online accounts (one boy being a 19-year-old), this dad has had to rethink much of how he monitors his daughter’s communications. What are his personal rules for protecting his daughter? Read more.
SON AND PARENT 2
One son and father disagree about the dad’s internet monitoring policies. Is it fair for this dad to monitor the fourteen-year-old son’s Facebook pages? Is it a breach of privacy for the father to ask the son about the things he does online? Or does the father’s monitoring outweigh the son’s need for privacy? Both son and father weigh in. Read more.
EXPERT 1
Parents are worried about their teens getting into trouble based on new technology. With all these new influences from social media and other online sources, how are parents going to keep their teenagers safe? And yet, this expert says some parents will go too far in their monitoring. How do parents keep that balance between privacy and safety? Read more.
EXPERT 2
Although some examples may seem extreme, this private investigator has seen enough tragedy to understand the need for monitoring teenage online behavior. From runaways to kidnappings to all forms of child exploitation, these stories have shown this investigator the dangers of parents not supervising their childrens’ behavior enough. Read more.
