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WEB RISKS: TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL
Since no one knows who or what someone really is, chat rooms and other kids or teens sites are often rife with those who seek to exploit or recruit children for a variety of nefarious purposes. These can include exposure to pornographic material, stalking or luring for exploitation, and the possibility for physical or sexual harm. OPRAH WINFREY: A CHAMPION FOR YOUNG SURFERS Talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey has a great website on safe Net usage and the perils of the Web at www.oprah.com. In a recent program, she featured experts on--and victims of--the risks to kids and teens while surfing. According to Oprah's Online Parents Guide, younger people can find themselves exposed by email to pornographic sites, or stalked by predators or pedophiles. To show how easily kids or teens may be lured in, a brief conversation between a predator and a child is featured on Oprah's site. Check to see how many luring statements you can recognize: child: i live in park ridge predator: i know a little about there do u go to the park on northwest hiway? child: yeah predator: u ever go see a movie at the Pickwick theatre? child: yes I'm going there on Saturday to see inspector gadget predator: what time is the show? child: 3 predator: it's gonna be cold tomorrow so u gonna to wear a jacket, ok? child: yeah i got my white sox one with frank thomas number 35 on it. By now, you should easily see how a predator, often pretending to be a kid, can inspire a friendship via kid chat rooms. While an adult can clearly discern where the above conversation is leading, young people, especially those with mental illness, often don't have the knowledge or level of functioning to recognize a predator. MENTALLY ILL KIDS AND THE WEB: MY CORRELATION It is--or should be--conventional wisdom that children and teens suffering from mental health disorders such as bipolar disorder, are especially wanting, needing and innocent, as children should be. Bipolar kids, for example, are among the most disenfranchised in real time. They generally are lonely and desperate for friendship. They often lack the judgement to discern youths from predators. Plus, they are often impulsive, with little thought between an idea and taking immediate action on it. They miss warning signs and believe only that they have found a new best friend online. These warnings are not only for bipolars.
The copyright of the article WEB SAFETY AND STRANGER DANGER: AN INCREASING MH ISSUE in Mental Health Issues is owned by . Permission to republish WEB SAFETY AND STRANGER DANGER: AN INCREASING MH ISSUE in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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