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Online Social Networking for Children

This The National E-security Awareness Week was held over the 6th – 13th June this year and it bought about a lot of discussion within the sector about children using the internet for social networking. As you can imagine there are many traps to be found with unsupervised children chatting online without always knowing who they are conversing with. 

With over 65 million visitors using MySpace per month it’s easy to see that online social networking is an accepted modern method of keeping in touch with one another however children do not have the skills to judge what information about themselves they should be placing within the online arena.

Its undeniable the most kids these days are quite net savvy however this has bred almost complacency in what information they share about their lives whether it be personal details or even photos and videos of themselves and their friends.

Whilst many parents fear this trend its essential that children are taught the skills necessary to participate online safely and the Federal Government has set up several websites for parents to learn about what is available.

http://www.netalert.gov.au/
Australian Governments online safety website

http://www.safekids.com/kidsrules.htm
Some rules that kids might use for their surfing

http://www.nettysworld.com.au/
Preschool

http://www.cyberquoll.com.au/hub.htm
Primary School

http://www.wiseuptoit.com.au/
Teenagers