Take Charge! - Smart Choices for Your Cox Digital Home

Information provided by Cox’s Security Software partner McAfee

Talking to Your Teens

Just like you have to teach teenagers road safety before they drive a car, you also have to teach them about Internet safety before you let them surf the web unmonitored.

A major difference between hopping in a car and hopping on the Internet is that there are no real “rules of the road” on the Internet. This makes it both a very powerfuland very dangerous vehicle. So, to avoid computer crashes or worse, you need to make the rules and enforce them. The goal here is to teach teens common sense to steer clear of online dangers.

Talk to your teenager about why it’s important to be safe online. Be sure to cover the following points:

• Discuss viruses, spyware, and hackers and how they operate


• Discuss how predators like to lure vulnerable young people into talking about themselves


• Explain why it’s important to be safe online because the computer can be an open door to all of your important personal information


• Discuss how identity theft occurs


• Discuss the fact that you or a computer expert (if you’re not one) and can track every single thing that is done on your computer


• Talk about how criminals can take control of your PC and break it, so that you have to buy a new one

Remind your teen that the people they meet online are strangers

No matter how often they chat with them and no matter how well they think they know them, people your teens meet online are strangers. People can lie about who they are, and your teenager’s new “friend” may really be a 40-year-old man instead of someone their own age.

Check your teen’s profile on social networking sites

Make sure your teens are not posting too much information about themselves on MySpace.com or Facebook. Be sure that the photographs they post are not provocative. Remind them that they might draw interest from online predators, embarrass friends and family, disappoint a potential college admissions representative, or negatively influence a future employer.