Internet dating safety tips advice
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· Never leave the public place, go home with the person or invite your date to your home. Particularly, focus on local groups - it's not hard to find an e-mail list or forum for New Jersey Republicans, Atlanta jesus, or Oregon vegans. But maybe you're clicking on all of the profiles, even those that don't match your preferences, or sitting next to your sister, and she's also looking for a boyfriend — one who's short and blond. I'd met a guy online — he was interesting and for-looking, and we had great conversations. Simply review the customized online safety tips particular to chat rooms posted on the dating internet dating safety tips advice. Cyberbullying differs from schoolyardHandy says. Remind your child to give the new email address only to family and a few trusted friends. Learn from your bad and boring dates and try again. Tell your friends about the online relationship. You may think your short rendition about yourself is enticing — but maybe it comes off as arrogant or too timid, or has too much about your kids and not enough about you.
Mary Ellen Handy had a painful crash course in the dangers of the Internet. The trouble started in her freshman year of high school after a dispute over a boy's affections. Once she began him, a jealous girl flooded her computer with a stream of nasty messages. With the speed and ease of the Internet, her classmate soon recruited 20 others to bully Handy online. As the ordeal dragged on for months, she dreaded going to school, felt physically ill and saw her grades tumble. No doubt, the Internet can be an extremely useful tool for young people. But instant messaging, chat rooms, emails and social networking sites can also bring trouble - from cyberbullying to more serious Internet dangers, including exposure to sexual predators. How savvy are you about keeping your child or teenager safe online? Follow these tips to protect your kids from the 4 major dangers of the Internet. Internet Danger 1: Cyberbullying On the Internet, cyberbullying takes various forms, says Netsmartz411. Cyberbullying includes sending hateful messages or even death threats to children, spreading lies about them online, making nasty comments on their social networking profiles, or creating a website to bash their looks or reputation. Cyberbullying differs from schoolyard , Handy says. Teachers can't intervene on the Internet. And cyberbullies don't witness their victims' reactions, the way they might if they insulted others to their faces. Some cyberbullies pose as their victims and send out harassing messages to others. Recently, cyberbullies have also begun posting humiliating videos of other kids they dislike, says Parry Aftab, a cyberspace security and privacy lawyer who also serves as executive director of WiredSafety. If your son or daughter tells you, stay calm. If it's a one-time thing, try to ignore the bully and block future contact, she says. But if the cyberbullying involves any physical threat, you may need to call the police. Internet Safety Tips Some tips from Netsmartz. Remind your child to give the new email address only to family and a few trusted friends. If the cyberbullying continues, call the police. Keep a record of the emails as proof. Internet Danger 2: Sexual Predators The online world opens the door for trusting young people to interact with virtual strangers - even people they'd normally cross the street to avoid in real life. About 1 in 7 kids have been sexually solicited online, says John Shehan, CyberTipline program manager for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia. The CyberTipline helps prevent sexual exploitation of children by reporting cases of kids enticed online to do sexual acts. While sexual predators have targeted children in chat rooms, they migrate to wherever young people go online, Shehan says. More predators are now scouring social networking sites, such as MySpace and Xanga, because these sites have centralized so much information, Shehan says. A child's profile typically includes photos, personal interests and blogs. Look at the site together or search for it yourself online. Social networking sites often have age limits. MySpace prohibits kids under 14 - but doesn't verify kids' ages, so anyone can use it. If you want to delete a site, work with your child to cancel the account, or contact the social networking site directly. Remind them that photos - like your child in a team sweatshirt - can give away clues to where they live. Ask them not to send photos to people they meet online. Explain that strangers who approach them online aren't always who they say they are - and that it's dangerous to meet them in real life. Put your computer in a common area of your home, not a child's bedroom, so you can keep an on online activities. Shehan asks adults to report the event to the CyberTipline 800-843-5678 , where staff will contact law enforcement agencies to investigate. He also advises parents to call their local police and save all offensive emails as evidence. Continued Internet Danger 3: Pornography One of the worst dangers of the Internet, for many parents, is the idea that pornography could pop up and surprise their children. But parents may not realize that some kids are going online to seek out web porn, too. You can view the Internet browser history to see which websites your child is visiting, Shehan says. But since kids can delete this history, you may want to install Internet filtering software to block porn sites in the first place. Software filters aren't a perfect solution; some nasty sites can slip through, while educational or family-rated sites may be blocked. So while some parents may wonder whether monitoring means they're spying on their kids, the safety factor often wins out. That way, if someone's viewing porn, you'll have the records to deal with it. Because some have figured out how to get around filters by typing in porn-related search terms in other languages. Internet Danger 4: Damaged Reputations Camera phones, digital cameras and web cams are everywhere these days, and kids can be victims of their own inexperience with new technology. Many post pictures, videos or notes online that they later regret. A child's online reputation is a growing concern, Aftab says, with the rise of online social networking and profiles. She cites reports of schools and employers rejecting young people for high school programs, internships, college admissions and jobs after checking out what applicants have posted online. Many teenage girls put up provocative photos of themselves, Shehan says. Handy - a teenager herself - believes it's a game of one-upmanship. They're doing it because everyone else is doing it. A girl will see a picture and say, 'Oh, I can top that. A 17-year-old might think it's hilarious to post a MySpace photo of himself looking drunk, with empty beer bottles strewn around him. But will a college admissions officer be impressed? Probably not SOURCES: Mary Ellen Handy, student, New Jersey. Parry Aftab, cyberspace security and privacy lawyer; executive director, WiredSafety. John Shehan, program manager, CyberTipline, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Alexandria, VA.
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