Audio/Video, Computers, MySpace
Three in Four Parents Spy on Their Kids With Webcams
Parents are getting desperate in the battle to stay on-top of their kid's online activities. The preferred method of combat used to be occasionally sitting down at the PC with your child and/or picking up some filtering software, but that just isn't cutting it anymore.
Kids are on social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, even if they're under the 13-year-old age limit. Even worse, many of these kids have gotten into bad habits such as befriending complete strangers, and, according to a recent study by research firm Garlik, one in five even admit to meeting these online-only friends offline. A full two thirds of kids admit to posting personal information such as what school they attend or their home phone number on their profile.
Instead of sitting down with their children and explaining to them how to be safely use such services, parents have reduced themselves to the electronic equivalent of reading their child's diary. According to the Garlik survey, a full three quarters of parents admitted to spying on their children online. Some created fake profiles to keep tabs on their kids, while others actually log in to their child's account when they aren't around.
While it's important that parents understand the potential pitfalls of social networking services, snooping isn't going to get them anywhere. Teaching a child proper behavior and what information is safe to share is the only way to make sure they're safe even when you aren't around to break into their PC. [Source: Telegraph]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Carol said 8:06PM on 8-09-2008
Guess again! Some children listen to what their parents tell them. Others do exactly the opposite--and put themselves in harm's way. Talk to them first? Yes. Use more invasive methods to monitor their activities? It depends upon the child.
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suburbancorrespondent said 9:53PM on 8-08-2008
Hello? We are already teaching our kids the safe way to use these social networking sites. We spy on them to make sure they are following our instructions. Because - surprise, surprise - children don't always listen to their parents' advice.
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Jennifer said 10:55PM on 8-08-2008
Disgusting. If you raise your kids from birth to be safe and honest, such blatant privacy violations wouldn't be necessary.
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Mark said 7:39PM on 8-17-2008
In a perfect world, hopefully. But we all know what Adam and Eve did. In our imperfect world we do what we can, and that means we teach, and correct. Teach, and correct. Obviously to correct we have to know when the students have gone astray.
getreal said 2:55PM on 8-26-2008
If you really believe that, you're living in a dream world. We don't raise our kids in a vacuum, and it's our duty as parents to keep our kids safe. They don't always exercise the best judgement, so we should try to.
Betty said 1:05AM on 8-09-2008
Terrence OBrien has lost a marble. His comment, "parents have reduced themselves to the electronic equivalent of reading their child's diary." is WAY of base. You do not put a" diary" out there for people to read. I have told my kids first and foremost NOTHING on on the internet is private. It is a parent's obligation to take care of their child- period. DO NOT let Terrence browbeat you into thinking anything different. He would probably give his kids a hundred bucks and send then into NYC with a reminder to behave. Kids NEED our guidance. KNOW what your kids are doing. The internet is not a place to assume privacy AND let them know you will check on it.
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csbtty said 2:59AM on 8-13-2008
I think spy on kids is important.
I'm spy software from Spytech to Spy on my chldren to protect them from bad guys.
I recommend the realtime spy, http://www.spy-tech-monitoring.com/spytech-realtime-spy.html
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