Let The Right One In

When discussing the importance of child safety on the Internet, it’s not a complete conversation without talking about online games and virtual spaces. While you might be tempted to call them games, hangouts like Club Penguin and Habbo Hotel are actually more akin to social networks, in that the main activity appears to be chatting with other users.

There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, but lately there have been a lot of articles about how these social spaces have become hunting grounds for online predators. A lot of panic is generated by articles like these, with both poles of opinion expressed. As usual, the reality is somewhere in between.

It’s true — a lot of these websites are built in such a way as to be a little lax in the confirmation of actual age of the user. So it is possible for those of ill intent to drop in to an otherwise safe and innocent environment to take advantage of the too-trusting. However, it would be remiss to lay all the blame at the feet of the developers of the website. The main responsibility for protection of youth belongs strictly to the parent.

If you want your child to be safe on the Internet, make sure you know what he’s doing there. Monitor his time on the computer, find out who his friends are, and make sure you have clear conversations about what is and what isn’t safe behavior. The best way to keep your child safe in a virtual hangout is to advise your kid to only make friends with people they know in real life. While it can be fun to meet new people online, the fact remains that true identity is very easy to fake. It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling that quantity of friends is more important than quality, but this is just a case of arbitrary one-upmanship. Talk with your child about being safe on the Internet, and if they don’t practice that behavior, limit their usage. As the parent, you’re in charge. Better safe than sorry, always.