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Parents: Do you know where your child is online?: Teens don't know world sans Web
[July 24, 2010]

Parents: Do you know where your child is online?: Teens don't know world sans Web


Jul 24, 2010 (The Gazette - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Sixteen-year-old Courtny Goodbred is an avid fan of Facebook and Twitter. She uses the two social media networks to keep in contact with her friends far away and close to home.



She's careful about her online presence. On Facebook, she doesn't accept any friend requests from people she doesn't know. She keeps her personal profile private, so strangers can't see her pictures or status updates.

Some of her friends aren't as guarded. Some, she says, will post status updates or send texts using words or phrases they may not use in a face-to-face confrontation.


'I tend not to say anything that I wouldn't say in person, because you have to be able to back it up,' says Goodbred, of Cedar Rapids, 'but not everyone is like that. You always see people saying things online that if you asked them about it, they would back down.' It's that attitude -- as if electronic communication isn't 'real' or doesn't count -- that has law enforcement, counselors and parents worried.

A recent study of teens and the Internet, for example, found 69 percent of teens freely divulging their location and 28 percent admitting to chatting with strangers online.

More frightening, some say, is the number of teens who post their e-mail addresses or cell phone numbers -- 24 percent and 12 percent, respectively, according to the Harris Interactive for McAfee survey.

'I think, unfortunately, (teens) have a faux sophistication about the world, because technologically, they're more sophisticated than some adults are,' says David Perlmutter, 47, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa. 'I think they get a false sense of confidence that they also understand human volitions and motivations about certain things.' For teens to be safe,Perlmutter says, parents need to know what their kids are doing. Law enforcement officials think so, too.

In June, the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force announced a new website to provide parents information and tools to know what their kids are doing online.

The site -- www.

iaicac.org -- offers tips and information, as well as a place for parents to report suspected Internetcrimes.

Jamie Johannsen, 34, is Goodbred's mother. She made her daughter wait almost a year before getting on Facebook or any other social media site, so she could try the sites herself.

Still, she says, she believes today's teens have grown up with the Internet and are likely more savvy than some adults.

'I think we don't give our kids enough credit,' she says. 'My daughters, yes, they do things they shouldn't do, they do things that make me mad. But they're really good kids and they know where the lines are.' Perlmutter says that in many cases, 'knowing where the lines are' may not be enough.

'We have to remember that they're used to it being part of their lives, but that doesn't mean that they are mature and sophisticated about the risks and responsibilities,' he says.

He points out that for teenagers, the world has always had the Internet and social media. 'To the teenager, it's the wheel and fire and roads. It was always there,' he says.

Parents need to be online, too, and be aware of their children's onlinepresence, he says. Johannsen has her own Facebook profile and is a social media 'friend' of Goodbred's.

'She knows I watch,' Johannsen says. 'She knows I'm paying attention.' She says she trusts herdaughter but knows there are people who try to take advantage of teens online. 'I don't want to be the creepy mom who is always hovering,' Johannsen says, 'but she knows I do need to be there as a backup, ready to step in if something happens.' aEUR" Comments: (319) 398-8288; [email protected] To see more of The Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gazetteonline.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544).

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