Parents Should have Knowledge about Computers

Are you the parent of a child or a teenager who uses the internet? If so, you may have some concerns. Yes, it is typically safe for your child to use the internet to do research for school projects, but did you also know that children and teens are now using it to communicate with their friends or other internet users? Using the internet at a young age can become a problem.

A good understanding of computer and internet use can better enable you to protect your child. Do you know that Internet Explorer, the browser that comes standard, has a free parental control option that just needs to be activated? A few easy steps and you can have certain websites blocked from your child. Unfortunately, you won't know this if you don't know all that you can know about the computer or the internet. Speaking of the internet, additional online safety tools for parents can be purchased online as well.

Here we list five reasons why internet use can be dangerous for children and teenagers:

 Fake Identities Are Easy to Create

Making new friends online is easy, but it is much different than doing so in person. Why? Because you can’t see who is at the other end of the computer. The internet makes it easy for someone to be anybody else. For example, if your child is using social networking websites online, they have to enter in their age. They could easily lie themselves or they could be talking to someone else who is.

Internet Predators

As the internet makes it easy to create a new, false identity. Often times, the individuals who lie about their ages are internet predators. They are the ones who target children, like yours. Unfortunately, many children, teenagers, and their parents cannot discover an internet predator until it is too late, like when the predators try to approach your child or contact them in person.

So Many Websites To Choose From

What is nice about the internet is that you have so many websites to choose from. In fact, that is why it is a good way to research school projects. But, having so many websites to choose from can be dangerous. Your child can gain access to social networking websites, adult chat rooms, pornographic websites, and websites that are violent in nature. Unless you have parental controls set up, your child can easily access any type of website with a standard internet search.

Not All Information Is Private

Unfortunately, many individuals, including both children and parents, do not know that the information that is posted online isn’t always private. For starters, most teens have their MySpace profiles set to public, as opposed to private. This means that anyone can view it. There are also online message boards that are indexed by the search engines. This means that others can view the conversations that were discussed, even years down the road.

 Keep them in your Control

When your child uses the internet, they are the ones who are in control. This can be fine if your child is older and mature, but you honestly never know. You may ask your child not to communicate with strangers online, give out their phone numbers, or share pictures with strangers, but that doesn’t mean that they will follow your rules. For that reason, if you do let your child use the internet, be sure to monitor their use.

Discuss the facts about internet

One problem that many parents face is checking up on their children online. It is no secret that most children know their way around a computer nowadays. Sometimes being strict also can create a problem, they can delete the history, they can lie with you, these all things slowly create the distance between you and your children, so it's better to spending the time on computer along with your kid, and making them understand the facts about internet may keep your kid safe.