To protect children online, parents need to invade their (cyber) space. That’s the advice from Frederick County State’s Attorney Charlie Smith. Smith, who was a founding member of the Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, spoke recently about teens and online safety at St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Libertytown. A second talk is planned soon at St. John’s in downtown Frederick.
“Don’t give your child a smart phone,” Smith told parents at the Libertytown meeting. If you do, take precautions, he said. Parents can download apps to track their children’s activities or restrict data and texting plans. And children – even teens – should always expect periodic checks of their phones, he said.
A Pew Research Center study in 2013 showed that more teens are on social networks than ever. A shift to Facebook from other social networks like MySpace also means teens are sharing more information about themselves. According to the study:
n 91 percent of teenagers post a real photo of themselves
n 71 percent post their school name and the town where they live
n 53 percent post their email address
n 20 percent post their cell phone number
The percentage of teenagers posting this information increased in all categories from the last time Pew conducted the study in 2006.
Additionally, teens are more likely than not to post about their interests, include their birthdate and about their relationship status.
All of that sharing can open teens up to danger, law enforcement warns. Whether it be child sexual solicitation or cyber bullying, or engaging in behaviors like “sexting,” such actions can linger long after childhood.
The U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2011 that 16 percent of high school students reported being electronically bullied in the past year.
Sometimes those attacks can come from people teenagers least expect.
“The biggest problem we’re seeing in teens – and even tweens – is taking inappropriate pictures of themselves or even others,” Smith said. “And storing or sharing explicit photos of children is a crime.”
Smith said children might believe that a photo they share with a boyfriend or girlfriend will stay with that person, but often the photos end up being shown to others or passed around.
“In many ways, the emotional scars from these photos never do heal for these young ladies,” Smith said. “They could haunt them for the rest of their lives.”
The good news is there are plenty of tools parents can use to talk with and protect their children, he said. The national Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force website includes a checklist of rules and tools for parents, glossary of web-related terms and educational videos.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children includes educational programs for parents and children, starting at age 5.
In 2013, Maryland lawmakers passed Grace’s Law, which prohibits cyberbullying. The law is named for Grace McComas, a 15-year-old Howard County girl who took her own life in 2012 after repeated online harassment by a neighbor.
The most important thing parents can do to check on the online welfare of their children is to talk to them, Smith said.
“Children should have no expectation of privacy,” he said.
Follow Danielle E. Gaines on Twitter: @danielleegaines
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