Digital Baggage And Your Teen - What Your Teen Does Online Now Can Mean Trouble Later In Life

By Author: Truecare
Total Articles: 3
Comment this article

Social media problems are haunting teens as more and more of them face the hard-hitting consequences of digital baggage - online material that is online forever and won't go away.

Most teens don't realize the real-life consequences of what they do in the virtual world can haunt them in the real world. That is, until a serious wake-up call shakes them up. Careless mistakes can haunt your teen for many years. Examples of digital baggage include:

Posting something they later regret
Using social media to make fun of other kids
Distributing sexy photos to friends
Creating a profile with a false identity
Hacking into someone's social networking account
Posting inappropriate pictures or videos

If unguarded and unsupervised, your kids may be treading in dangerous water when they hang out on their favorite social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. Take a look at the top 4 dangers your teens face every day and the damage they can cause:

IDENTITY THEFT - Private information is uncovered and used by identity thieves.
o Consequence: Jeopardized ...
... financial future.

CYBERBULLYING - School bullying expands to social media, where damage from name-calling, rumors and harassment is dreadful.
o Consequence: Reported cases of teen suicide, criminal charges against the bullies

CYBERSTALKING - Stalked online by ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends, pedophiles or bullies where anyone can figure out where you are by what you post.
o Consequence: Personal safety in danger.

INAPPROPRIATE PICTURES - "Sexy" camera phone pictures sent to friends or boyfriends are easily posted, spread quickly, and are difficult to remove.
o Consequence: Irreparable reputation.

How can you keep your kids cyber safe?
Dave Barker, product manager for http://www.TrueCare.net - a social media monitoring tool designed for parents that want to protect their children but still respect their privacy - says that too many moms and dads are totally disconnected from what kids do online. TrueCare.net's unique social media monitoring product was designed by parents as a way to effectively monitor their child's online social networking activity without invading their child's privacy.
Barker recommends teach teens to privatize their profiles, learn the lingo they use for online and chat conversations, and monitor their online activities, so you are aware of any inappropriate behavior or contact with strangers.

About TrueCare

TrueCare provides comprehensive Internet monitoring software that enables parents to safeguard their children from the dangers associated with online social networking. TrueCare's unique product was designed by parents to effectively monitor their child's online activity without invading their child's privacy. TrueCare automatically tracks social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter for inappropriate content and sends parents a real-time e-mail alert when it finds something suspicious. The software provides 24/7 monitoring of social networking accounts, identifies patterns of inappropriate or troublesome postings, locates registered sex offenders, and keeps track of online friends.

Try TrueCare FREE for 30-days! Sign up for your FREE trial account - www.truecare.net/yd/SignUp.htm.

For more information about Cyber bullying, monitoring facebook and supervise facebook, visit www.truecare.net.