Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Living Well

It is estimated that by the year 2002, there will be 45 million children will use the Internet.

According to Websence, 75 percent of parents say they know where their children spend time on-line. However, the reality is that 58 percent of teens say they have accessed an objectionable website. These offensive sites include offensive music, sexual content and violence.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice, warns that children most at risk on-line are teenagers 13 to 15, the exact age parents pull back on monitoring Internet usage.

The issue of online safety for children has garnered the attention of national policy makers. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which will be enforced by the FTC beginning in April, requires operators of commercial Websites to obtain consent from parents before asking children under 13 for their name, address, telephone number or other identifying information.

The best insurance for online safety is for parents to observe the following:

Explore the Internet with your children and have them show you their favorite sites.

Talk about what is and what is not acceptable online behavior.

Place computers in areas that can be easily supervised.

Familiarize yourself with the filtering programs and browsers available that allow parents to block sites considered inappropriate. There are now services that rate Websites for content as well. These devices are not fail proof and cannot protect children from every danger in cyberspace.

Maintain open communication with children and encourage them to talk with you about anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.

Remember, whether you are computer savvy or not, guiding children is really just a matter of basic common sense. Keeping up with children on the Internet is really not much different than watching their other everyday activities.

Safe surfing!