New Child Safety MySpace Safety

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MySpace Safety

Online socializing presents the same if not more danger for your child as offline socializing. Social networking websites present a wider chance for sex offenders and scam artists to exploit the young and innocent users of the sites. MySpace.com is one popular website that has had its own fair share of bad press and disconcerted parents due to its misuse by criminals. Due to this, the site presents its own MySpace safety tips, as well as links to other websites on Internet and social networking safety.

GO To My Space Safety Checklists

There are different types of risks that your child can be exposed to when using a social networking website. Material that parents and other adults find objectionable is present on these sites such as obscene language, suggestive or pornographic images, even racist remarks and sentiments that are very unhealthy for your child to be exposed to, especially on a regular basis. Your child can also be overexposed to sexual predators through social networking sites. They may post personal information and photographs of themselves in provocative poses that can attract all types of risky and very unhealthy outcomes for your child such as cyber bullying and potential sexual predators to them.

Your child can also get recruited into the wrong groups and industries such as dealing drugs, pornographic productions, human trafficking and suicide pacts. All these and more have been reported to be accelerated by contact with malicious people on the Internet, specifically through social networking sites.

This is often a very scary situation for parents as we often fall behind our own children on the know-how and culture of social networking. It is also difficult for parents to balance the line between giving their child privacy and knowing everything and everywhere they are online.

MySpace safety guidelines for parents and guardians are some ways of providing child safety when using the Internet and online communities.

First and foremost, open your own MySpace or other social networking account to familiarize with the sites.
Parents should not shy away from social networking websites either because we are intimidated by the technology or simply have no interest for ourselves. We need to open an account to understand the process and become familiar with the online culture. This is truly one of the best ways to see what our children do online and it presents an opportunity for them to show you why they are so interested in being online with friends. You do not have to participate in on MySpace yourself. Simply look around and evaluate for yourself whether your child will be safe on there. You can also look at your child's profile to see whether they have followed your instructions and check in from time to time.

Remind your child that MySpace is a public website.
Any information given on the website is accessible by not only the people you want to have it but potentially a lot of other individuals who you would never otherwise give such information to about you and your family. Privacy settings such as hiding your profile or restricting it to only your friends is insufficient because an online stranger may befriend your child and get added as a friend, hence getting access to the child's full name, address, school and other details. This is precisely why we advocate not putting up any personal information on you or your child's profiles.

Do not allow your child to lie about their age to sign up to MySpace
The age restriction for joining the site is 14, but there are many underage children who are full members and participate in social networking on the site. There is no sure way of verifying a member's age, so it is the parent's responsibility to know their child's online activities. Some parents, due to the dangers presented by the Internet, may think that 14 years is still too young to participate on MySpace. It is up to them to set the rules in their homes to keep their children safe.

Inform your child that people do lie on the Internet.
A child can be so naive as to believe that everybody means well and most people do, but we're not concerned about most people. We are focused on the individuals that are specifically on social networking sites for the explicit purpose of exploiting, even harming our children. Online even a child molester will be nice to them only to manipulate them later. It is very disturbing that we must be this blunt with our kids but it is absolutely necessary that this does happen all the time and they are no exception to the risk. They will go onto MySpace and be as innocent and as honest as they know how, which makes them ideal targets for predators. Caution your child about this so that they will have a more realistic outlook on social networking and learn to be selective with the people they communicate with online. If you feel your child is not ready to have this type of conversation yet then you must question if they are old enough to understand and manage MySpace safety.

Show your child how to present themselves online.
In their sincerity, children can post things on the Internet that can cause them embarrassment and make them targets for their peer and potential predators online, especially when it comes to photographs. There have been cases of children posting very sensual images of themselves online with the intent of making more friends on MySpace, but this is dangerous and must never happen - talking and role modeling are key. An excellent rule is to share with them the experience of posting their favorite vacation or sporting photos to share with friends and family while having a conversation about not posting anything they would not want you or other adults to see.