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Internet chat rooms: What every parent should know
The past few years have seen the introduction of a new area of teenage life where many parents have almost zero knowledge of what's going on - the Internet
Extracted from Teenagers! What Every Parent Has to Know by Rob Parsons
Most of us, as parents, understand the dangers of inappropriate content (such as pornography), and with more and more young people accessing Internet content on their mobile phone, we are quickly recognising the commercial pressures - often having to foot the bills!
The risk that children might come into contact with a stranger who threatens them or seeks to meet up with them to abuse them, is a growing fear which is being amplified by the new phenomenon of social networking.
How social networking works
Sites such as Bebo, MySpace and Teenspot are somewhere where teenagers can swap ideas, gossip and photographs, and drool over X Factor winners away from the prying eyes of adults.
They are all different, but essentially they work like this: you register with your name, address, email and phone number and then fill in a personal profile which will cover things like your favourite music, bands, films and any other interesting bits which will appear on your 'homepage'.
You can design your homepage in your own style, including photographs, and are encouraged to add your school. This can only be viewed by 'selected direct friends'. Bebo suggest that if you are under 21 you do not elect to make this page public - but if you do, the information is open to any other registered user.
The risks
It's not hard to understand how such sites can become popular. Will Gardner, the research and policy manager for Childnet says: 'These sites can be fantastic environments for kids. They can express themselves, talk about their music tastes and what's bothering them, and communicate with each other. What we are concerned about are the potential dangers and risks involved and the lack of awareness some children might have.'
It was these risks that worried Linda Wybar, the head teacher of a girls' school in Kent. More than seven hundred of her pupils have signed up to Bebo, but she called in the police when she discovered that some of them were not only revealing personal details, but posting photographs of themselves on it that she considered 'indecent'.
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