How To Manage Your Teen’s Online Behavior

Nearly 90 percent of America’s teens go online.  That’s more than 20 million people ages 12 to 17, according to Pew Internet.

Like teens behind the wheel of a car, teens behind the keyboard pose some serious risks such as:

• Online Predators
• Cyberbullying
• Information/Identity Theft
• Teen Obesity

To help protect your teen from these risks, here is how you can manage your teen’s online behavior.

Limit Internet Activity 

According to one teen online use report, adolescents spend as much as 31 hours online in a given week.  That’s more than a day!

That’s time they can be spending doing homework, exercising or spending time with family and friends.  It’s no secret that teen obesity is on the rise.  Limiting internet use is one way to keep your teen healthy.

But before you ban internet in your household, consider different after-school activities to eat up that time they’re spending online.  Get your teen involved in:

• Sports
• Arts/Music
• After-School Clubs
• Volunteer Work

By taking this simple step, you’ll be amazed how much less time they spend on the internet.  You also won’t be yelling at your teen to get off the computer.

Keep Internet Use in Public Areas

If you want to better monitor your teen’s online behavior, consider limiting internet use to public areas.  Don’t allow them to have online access in bedrooms or other private areas.

Obviously, this could be difficult to do if you have iPads, smartphones and other mobile devices in your home.  If this is the case, consider building a trusting relationship before you give them an iPad or a smartphone.

Start out with a computer that is located in a public area.  If your teen shows responsibility, then consider getting them the smartphone or iPad.

Discuss Cyberbullying

More than anything else, your teen may become a victim of cyberbullying.  This is when a teen is threatened, harassed or humiliated by another teen on the internet.

These kinds of actions can cause your teen to seek revenge, avoid friends or even become a cyberbully.

The National Crime Prevention Council suggests building a trusting relationship with your teen so they will feel comfortable telling you about the cyberbullying problem.  Additionally, limiting your teen’s time online can help to solve this problem.

Changing Social Network Settings to Private Isn’t Enough

As parents, we hear the horror stories of online predators lurking on social networks and other online sites.

To protect your teens, they need to understand that changing their social network settings to private isn’t enough.  In most cases, you can still pull name, location and profile pictures from “private” social media networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

That means online predators are a Google search away from finding phone numbers and addresses.

To help you adjust your teen’s privacy settings for social networks, read these posts:

• 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know
• About Public and Protected Tweets
• Privacy Settings on MySpace: What You Need To Know

Like driving, you may also want to keep them off of social networks until they reach a particular age … maybe 16.

Talk with Your Teens

Most importantly, talk with your teens about online use.  When talking with your teen, consider these five important talking points from Common Sense Media:

• Never provide personal information to anyone online
• Don’t talk to people you don’t already know
• Nothing on the internet is “private”
• Don’t download things without parent’s permission
• Never share passwords

Obviously, this is easier said than done.  To help communicate with your teen, parenting experts say you should:

• Be patient
• Listen to your child
• Be honest
• Talk about it again and again

If you follow these tips, you should be on your way to building a trusting relationship with your teen.

At Hue & Cry Security Systems, we’re a family-operated businesses that provides home security systems to families in Northern California and Oregon.  For more great security tips, read the Hue & Cry Security Systems Blog.