Internet Safety Publications

While I was researching Internet safety for this week’s article Internet Safety Programs, I happened upon the FBI’s publication, A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety. At first, I was a bit annoyed that this site seemed to underestimate parents’ ability to understand their children because the site listed some vague indicators that a child could be at risk online, such as:

• Your child spends large amounts of time on-line, especially at night.
• Your child turns the computer monitor off or quickly changes the screen on the monitor when you come into the room.
• Your child becomes withdrawn from the family.

There are several other symptoms listed, which seem much more indicative of a possible threat to a child’s Internet safety.

I suppose these particular warning signs offended me because my son, now 23-years-old, did these things when he was in college, exactly as written by the FBI (and quoted here), yet my husband and I never once suspected he was in danger online, except of failing a test or two.

Then I realized that perhaps I was being just a bit defensive because we didn’t think that such a horrible thing could happen to a college student—someone who was, by most definitions, an adult, capable of making rational decisions about his online safety. It never even occurred to us, and I wonder how many other parents out there have done the same.

Were we naive? When should parents stop teaching (or preaching) Internet safety to their children? So many programs focus on younger children, and with good reason, but should we be concerned about our young adult children as well? Please email me with your thoughts.

If you’re interested in finding out what you can do to increase awareness about Internet safety, no matter what your child’s age, take a look at these Internet Safety Programs available to parents, students, and educators.