by Sotiris Karahalios

Created on: May 02, 2009

Internet is a magical new world for kids and teens. Everyday, millions of teenagers are surfing the net, chatting, downloading or even blogging! Most of them are anticipating to finish their homework in order to start surfing the net in their free time. But like in all things, Internet has its "bad" side. There are countless dangers awaiting the innocent teenagers that enter the massive world of Internet. Scams, people that can harm them and pornographic material are some of them. So what can a teenager do in order to avoid those dangers?

First of all, parents should teach their kids some safety tips. Things that apply in our real life, apply in the internet world too. Teenagers should never give personal details to strangers. Like in real life, someone who learns your personal details like your name, address, mobile number or even has your photo, can harm you. They should never trust people that they don't know. They should even don't trust people that they think they know. "Bad" people tend to be very nice towards teenagers in order to get the information they need. If they see a behaviour like that they should be warned that something is going wrong. I don't say that there are not kind people on the net, but teenagers should be very careful to people they are talking too.

Teenagers are children even though they are big enough to do some things that adults do (driving, buying things, going to the cinema, etc...). Teenagers should be protected from pornography. They should never open suspicious links. Their parents should also add a filter to their computers in order to filter pornographic content which can also be seen accidentally. Based on a recent research, 80% of teenagers have seen pornographic content accidentally. They saw it as a popup advertisement or by misleading links or spam emails.

Teenagers should be also aware of the money scams of the internet. They should first ask their parents before proceeding to buy a product from the internet, or before sending money to someone who offers something or asks for money because he is in need. Internet is full of those scams. Here are some of them: Nigerian Scam, advanced fees paid for a guaranteed loan or credit card, phising emails, employment search overpayment scam, lottery scams, etc...

Parents are fully responsible for their teenager's protection. They should discuss thoroughly about the dangers of the Internet. In order to do that, they should be full informed about the dangers that are hidden on the Internet. There are some sites that offer parents much information about Internet risks and dangers. With a simple google search, they could find many sites based on Internet security.

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