Having been a user on Twitter for over a year now, I’ve seen much of what goes on between people and how people act.  Recently, there was a small scandal within a portion of Twitter-users: it was found out that a 45-year-old woman had been posing as a 17-year-old girl for a very long amount of time, and had thousands of people who both looked up to her, had spent much time conversing with her, and many of them cared for her.  This one person fooled thousands of people, and hurt them by what she did.  You might wonder how it’s possible for her to have done this. The answer?  The Internet.  Anyone can become anyone they want to become, and obviously it can last for a very long time.  There were people who got close enough to her that they texted her and talked with her on the phone.  These people were hurt, simply by her pretending to be someone she wasn’t.  The reason for me bringing this up is simple: you, and your family and friends, are never safe on the Internet.
Having been a user on Twitter for over a year now, I’ve seen much of what goes on between people and how people act.  Recently, there was a small scandal within a portion of Twitter-users: it was found out that a 45-year-old woman had been posing as a 17-year-old girl for a very long amount of time, and had thousands of people who both looked up to her, had spent much time conversing with her, and many of them cared for her.  This one person fooled thousands of people, and hurt them by what she did.  You might wonder how it’s possible for her to have done this. The answer?  The Internet.  Anyone can become anyone they want to become, and obviously it can last for a very long time.  There were people who got close enough to her that they texted her and talked with her on the phone.  These people were hurt, simply by her pretending to be someone she wasn’t.  The reason for me bringing this up is simple: you, and your family and friends, are never safe on the Internet.

Many people are already aware that the Internet is a fast-growing place for identity theft, criminals, and sexual predators to thrive.  How do you keep your children, and yourself, safe?  It’s also very simple: you stay away from it.  But how, how could you possibly do without checking your social networking site(s), blog, and e-mail? The Internet has become something that more and more people have access to, and are accessing every day in increasing amounts.  It’s where you go for your news, finding out what friends are up to, venting out your day, contacting someone via typed words, and relaxing after a long day of work.  

Going on the Internet for news is one thing, and probably won’t much affect you (however, see my recent post on the media for more on its affects.)  More and more people are getting in trouble through social networking sites and blogs – we’ll touch on both of these at once.  Recently, I heard of a woman who had put on her social networking site that she was going out of the house, and not long after she was robbed by someone who was a friend of hers from high school that she had added on her Facebook (note: Facebook privacy is another topic that I won’t be discussing here, however it is related.)  The robbers knew what she was going to be doing at what time – giving them the perfect opening for theft.  Facebook and similar social networking sites have also led to trouble for people who are both job searching and already employed after they posted either provocative pictures or statements relating to their job in a negative way.  Blogs have similar issues going for them for workers or workers-to-be because it has become so easy for employers to find out your information, especially if you access your social networking sites, blogs, etc. from your work computer – they can pretty much see your every move, search, and article read.

Next up would be e-mail, which also ties into your work and personal life.  If you have a work e-mail, chances are your boss can see every incoming and outgoing e-mail, and does look at them. An example of your e-mail tying into your personal life: if you have both your e-mail open on your computer and are signed into Facebook, a hacker can access your e-mail account through it.  

So, now the question is this: how do you stay safe on the Internet?  The most obvious answer would be not to use it, but it has seemed to become somewhat of a necessity for people in their lives.  The next most obvious answer, though seemingly the most commonly looked over: Don’t add people to your social networking sites that you don’t know. Do edit your privacy settings so only those who you add can see them.  Don’t put information that you don’t want people to see.  Don’t say when you’re going to be away from home, or the location you’re or your kids are headed to.  Don’t vent your bad feelings about your employer on your blog –that’s what a diary is for.  Don’t use your work e-mail for personal things. Do have the most recent anti-virus software installed on your computer before using the Internet.

We now move on to the next point: kids.  If you or someone you know thinks that your or their child is safe on the Internet, you’re dead wrong.  If anything, they’re more vulnerable than you.  Recently in the news there was a promotion for a site called “Togetherville” and was advertised as being a social networking site and safe place for your kids who are 6 to 10 years old.  The process goes like this: parent or child enter their parent’s e-mail address to send an invitation to Togetherville, or head straight to the website, and the parent must “Sign in with Facebook” because the site uses Facebook as the grounds for the kids’ friends who are added to their Togetherville.  From there, the parent can access who the child talks to and can control who their friends are.  The site indicates that the child’s friends can or must have a Facebook to be able to use Togetherville together.  6 to 10 year olds do not need to be on any social networking site. 6 to 10 year olds do not need to have any kind of access to social networking sites. 6 to 10 year olds do not need unsupervised time on any social networking site, even this one. Under the age of 15 or so, kids do not need any of those things, yet parents give them free reign of the computer to do as they wish.

If parents actually think their kid would be safe anywhere on the Internet, no matter how safe it appears to be, they need to take a look at it again.  I’m not one for age discrimination, but I also don’t believe that everyone should be treated equally in the sense that everyone has different needs.  Kids need to have reached both a certain maturity level and mentality state to be able to so much as handle being on the Internet.  You never know when a provocative ad will happen to make its way onto the screen, whether they are being supervised or not.  And even younger, kids are learning how to get around parental blocks and delete their computer history to do searches for things which, again, they need to have reached a certain maturity level for.  

You never know who is out there and what they may want with your kids, and it’s your job to protect them from that.



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