Nowadays, teens, as they go through the phase of adolescence, they learn to visualize their outside world in their own way, and in the course of their visualization they come across various threats such as online predators, messing with the phone while driving, getting their accounts hacked, substance abuse etc.
So, to ensure your teen’s safety against physical or cyber threats, you need to follow certain safety measures. Online predators, pedophiles, cyber criminals are surrounding us like air. It is very necessary, although difficult, to keep away from these social menace.
Online Predators and its problems
Most parents are concerned with the problem of online predators. You can Google the meaning of online predators in case you don’t know. Online predators have become a big threat towards the lives of most teenagers. Cyberbullying, Sexting, Oversharing personal info could be a result or even a cause of such threats.
Some of the researched statistics regarding this are:
- Every one child out of three is found to experience cyberbullying.
- Amongst those cyberbullied, only 1 out of 10 seeks guidance from their adults.
- 27% of teens find sexting to be normal.
- Teens taking part in more than 4 such atrocious or lousy online works are more obvious to receive requests of sexts or a face-off.
- 58% of teenagers feel posting personal info or too personal photos online.
- 50% of teens do not care about their online status or even of its effect which may befall on them thus hurting future goals.
These statistics, even if it appears frightening to you, are not to be scared of.
If your teen(s) appear to be rude to you and appears to have all answers in life such that they can make their own life, but the reality is they require to the fullest, they require someone to be their role model, they require someone to teach them, correct them and instruct them.
Now some good statistics to calm your heart and mind:
- More than 75% of parents have become aware of their internet activities.
- Almost half of the teens have agreed to the fact that online personal safeties have been discussed openly with their parents.
- 75% of the parents review the pros and cons of sharing private info online.
- 52% of teens, open to parents, have stopped sharing personal information and became more conscious about it.
Safety Procedures you must ensure
- Preach more about technology to your child; this could be helpful to him/her to prevent inappropriate usage.
- Allocate specific time slots for the usage and recharging of your child’s online device.
- Create house rules for the entire family and negotiate accordingly; thus creating discipline amongst everyone.
- A study from the PEW Internet and American Life revealed that teens with limited data pans and pack become less involved in such problems. So, you can also follow the same.
- You can use spy apps like Snapchat tracker app to be informed over your teen’s activity in various social media platforms.
- Always correct your teen and forgive them as they are young human and ‘to err is human’.
