I recently read a book called, "Want to go private?" by Sarah Littman. It is a story about Internet Predators and how a young teenage girl meets a man she believes is 25 and decides to meet him in person. He turns out not to be 25 and ends up kidnapping her and sexually abusing her. It is a young adult novel, but it is a great read for anyone curious about how the Internet can be very dangerous.
Internet Predators are a serious issue in our world today. Most parents think their teens know the dangers of chat rooms and the consequences involved, but it does not mean a teen will stay out of a chat room. The Internet is the new hang-out for teenagers today. Instead of hanging out in the community, they are hanging out in virtual chat rooms meeting people all over the world. The biggest mistake is that they may believe only teenagers chat in the teen chat rooms. This is NOT true! It is easy to lie on the Internet and never find out.
A common phrase that goes along with Internet predators is grooming. This is what predators do to convince teens to trust them. They will do this by pursuing the same interests as them, relating to their parental stresses, and by building up their self-esteem. Girls are a big target for the self-esteem issue. If you remember middle school, you know it is an awkward stage of development and girls want to feel beautiful. Predators use this knowledge and build girls trusts by telling them they are beautiful and sexy.
Yes, the Internet is widely used and is a great resource for students to use for school, but there should be guidelines set up in your house to help prevent your child being groomed by predators online. Here are steps to help prevent this situation:
1.) Learn the Lingo. 95% of parents do not know the lingo teens use on the internet. Some common phrases are: A/S/L- age/sex/location, b/f or g/f- boyfriend or girlfriend, F2F- face to face, c2c- cam to cam, RP-role play.
2.) While receiving a laptop as a gift makes you look like a really cool parent, it can lead to secrecy. If you give your child a computer set up guidelines. Block sites, allow an amount of time they are allowed to use the computer a day, or allow them to only use the computer in open rooms where they cannot hide behind closed doors.
3.) Make yourself and your child aware of online predators. I just finished watching a movie called Trust by David Schwimmer which shows you what can happen with online predators. It shows how it affects the family, the child groomed, and how an online predator can look like a regular civil-citizen. Your child may seem bored or say they understand, but it never hurts to keep them updated. There are also many resources that can be used to find previous predators in your area.
4.) Know the signs that point to your child possibly being in communication with an online predator.
Are they eating less?
Spending more time on the computer than usual?
Have grades dropped?
Hanging our with friends less?
More negative attitude addressed towards you?
These are just some signs that can help you be aware.
5.) Realize that talking online can easily be transfered to texting or phone calls. If your child is being groomed, they will most likely trust the predator with their personal information. A sense invincibility comes with teenage years and the thought "it can't happen to me" is not true. It can happen to them.
While this list can be helpful, there is so much you can learn about online predators and I encourage you to do your research, Here is a site with great statistics:
Here is not what I am saying: Do not watch your child like a hawk; they need to make mistakes and learn from them. Do not take the Internet/computer away from them; it is a valuable resource and they need to learn how to use it. Don't trust your kids; do trust them. Your trust will hopefully reduce their likely hood of being groomed by online predators and convince them they can trust you and not their online "friend."
Do your research and learn about this danger.
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