If they're on social media, friend or follow them. The strategy: First, stay on top of what your kid is doing online by asking them which apps, games, and other tech they use. Teens sometimes visit adult sites, chat rooms, and dating apps out of curiosity about sex and romance.
#PREDATORS 2010 ONLINE VERIFICATION#
Games that aren't designed only for kids have fewer controls, settings, and safeguards.Īny app or online space that allows contact with strangers without moderation or age verification can allow contact between kids and adult strangers. Though they're often imperfect, they do help. Most games meant for kids - like Roblox and Animal Jam - have built-in features and settings that are designed to prevent inappropriate comments and chat.
The concern: I can't keep up with all of the media my kid is into, so I don't know what games and apps to keep my eye on.Īccording to the New England Journal of Public Policy, contact with online predators happens mostly in chat rooms, on social media, or in the chat feature of a multiplayer game ( Roblox, Minecraft, Clash of Clans, World of Warcraft, and so on). It's simply a reason to be aware and know that if someone starts asking for personal information or talking about sexual stuff, it's time to get help from an adult. It's not the norm, and it's not a reason to be afraid all the time. So when you talk to your kid, tell them there's a chance someone could approach them online to get personal information, exchange pictures, and/or meet in person, and it might be someone who feels like an online friend. The strategy: More than inspiring fear in our kids, we want to arm them with information. The University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center reports that kids are more likely to pressure each other to send or post sexual content than an adult. Also, it makes for a popular article since it plays on parents' fears. When there's a report of an online predator ( like the one about Roblox in 2017), multiple news outlets jump on the story, and they often appear in many outlets over a week or two, so it may feel like it's more common than it is.
#PREDATORS 2010 ONLINE OFFLINE#
The YISS report also found that two specific kinds of contact - requests for offline meetings and situations that kids found extremely upsetting - declined between 20. As of 2010 only 9 percent of kids who use the internet received an unwanted sexual solicitation. The concern: Every time I read the news, it feels like there's an article about some creep contacting a kid in a game.Īccording to the University of New Hampshire's Youth Internet Safety Study (YISS), reports of unwanted sexual solicitations declined 53 percent between 20. If the concerns below ring true, use some of these strategies to be proactive in protecting your kids - they'll make your kid safer and help you feel a lot better. But instead of acting out of fear, arm yourself with the facts so that you can help your kids be smart, cautious, and savvy. Of course it's natural to be concerned when your kid goes into an unknown world. And while it's smart to be cautious, the facts show that it's actually fairly rare for kids to be contacted by adult strangers seeking sexual communication. Every parent worries about online predators at some point.
0 kommentar(er)
