| Press
Release
TEEN SUMMIT IN WASHINGTON, DC YIELDS GOOD ADVICE
FOR PARENTS AND GUARDIANS
Program is a Partnership of Cox Communications, the National Center
for Missing & Exploited Children, and Children’s Advocate John
Walsh
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 2, 2006 – Cox Communications,
in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children®
(NCMEC), today released findings from their Teen Summit on Internet Safety.
The Summit was designed to hear straight from the source why teens engage
in risky behavior online and how parents and guardians can best teach
their kids to be safer. High school students and their parents and guardians
from Cox Communications communities met in Washington, D.C. for the Summit,
which was moderated by John Walsh and NCMEC’s Staca Urie. The Summit
followed up to the release of a National survey of teens about Internet
usage conducted by Cox in partnership with NCMEC.
“We learned that teens don’t tell mom or dad when they receive
an inappropriate message or photo because they fear their parents will
blame them for receiving the communication,” said Walsh, children’s
advocate and host of America’s Most Wanted (FOX). “I’m
a real believer that parents should tell their kids that they can come
to them for help in these situations without the fear of punishment. Parents
need to continue to keep the lines of communication open.”
The teen delegates also offered advice about when Internet safety education
should be taught and who should teach it. “Children should be educated
about Internet safety as soon as they have access to a computer, before
they develop unsafe habits,” recapped Staca Urie, manager of outreach
for NCMEC. “These teens reinforced that Internet safety needs to
be taught in schools, and the teens believe that the most powerful education
tool would be for older teens to talk to their peers about Internet safety.”
Key findings–Advice for parents and guardians
- Become an experienced Internet user. Parents and
guardians should become more knowledgeable about the Internet to better
understand chat lingo and other communication vehicles used by teens.
One teen delegate said, “Before a parent can talk about MySpace
they need to first know what it is.”
- Keep the lines of communication open by not overreacting.
Teens usually do not tell their parents or guardians when they
accidentally encounter an inappropriate image or solicitation online.
Teens fear that the parent or guardian will think they did something
to cause the message to be sent, which may lead to the parent restricting
access to the Internet. The National survey also shows that only one
in five teens who receive an unsolicited message will tell an adult.
- Talk about Internet safety, now. Several teen delegates
said they knew of a peer who had a face-to-face meeting with someone
they had met online. The survey also found 30% are considering such
an encounter while 14% have already met in person with someone they
met online. The survey also shows that when parents and guardians talk
to their teens about Internet safety, their exposure to potential threats
decline and they make safer online decisions.
- Teach Internet safety to elementary-aged students. Children
should be taught Internet safety as soon as they begin to use a computer.
Parents should not wait until middle and high school to talk about Internet
safety because teens may have already developed bad Internet habits.
- Ask an older responsible teen to be an Internet mentor. Parents
and guardians should pair their children with a trusted teen mentor
to reinforce the parent’s instructions about Internet safety.
- Encourage schools to play a role in teaching Internet safety.
Teens need to hear about the importance of Internet safety from their
parents, guardians, teen mentors and teachers.
Reasons teens engage in unsafe online behavior
- Teens view the Internet as a way to meet new people. Teens
are willing to talk with people they’ve met first online because
they view the purpose of the social networking and other Internet forms
of communication as a way to meet new people. The teens stated that
it has become an accepted practice to talk to people online that they
don’t know. In the National survey, 40% of teens reported they
usually reply and chat with someone they don’t know.
- Teens have a false sense of security. Some teens
are knowledgeable about the dangers of sharing too much information
such as photos, first and last name, city and state in blogs and personal
profiles. But teens don’t believe they are personally at risk
of a predator making a face-to-face contact. One teen delegate summed
it up by saying “They just don’t think it can happen to
them.”
- Teens view the Internet as a socially safe environment.
Teens feel free to act differently online compared to their actions
in real life, and exhibit more outgoing and bold personality traits.
One teen shared that one of his classmates is shy at school and has
very few friends but talks to many people online and has numerous “virtual”
friends.
The Teen Summit is the latest initiative of Cox Communication’s
Take Charge! Smart Choices for your Cox Digital Home, a program designed
to help parents, guardians and kids make smart media decisions. Cox Communications
and NCMEC began working together in 2004 to help educate families on how
to be safer online. A major component of Take Charge! is NetSmartz®
, an interactive, educational safety resource from NCMEC and Boys &
Girls Clubs of America that uses age-appropriate 3-D activities to teach
children and teens how to stay safer on the Internet. Cox also offers
free, comprehensive parental control software for all of its high-speed
Internet users.
John Walsh, Take Charge! spokesperson, children’s advocate and
host of “America’s Most Wanted” (FOX) moderated the
Teen Summit, which will be aired later this summer on Cox Communications’
local cable channels. Following the Summit, Walsh and the teens participated
in a briefing about Internet safety. They then went to Capitol Hill, where
the students met with elected officials from their respective states to
discuss the positive and negative aspects of Internet use from a teen
perspective.
After the Summit and Capitol Hill meetings, the teens blogged about their
experience at Cox’s web log, www.DigitalStraightTalk.com. The teen
delegates will also help teach Internet safety to their classmates, parent
groups and the larger community through speeches, letters to the editor
and local media appearances.
About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
NCMEC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works in cooperation
with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention. NCMEC's congressionally mandated CyberTipline, a reporting
mechanism for child sexual exploitation, has handled more than 387,800
leads. Since its establishment in 1984, NCMEC has assisted law enforcement
with more than 119, 800 missing child cases, resulting in the recovery
of more than 102,200 children. For more information about NCMEC, call
its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit its web site
at www.missingkids.com.
About Cox Communications (www.cox.com)
Cox Communications, a Fortune 500 company, is a multi-service broadband
communications and entertainment company with more than 5.9 million total
residential and commercial customers. Cox offers an array of advanced
digital video, high-speed Internet and telephony services over its own
nationwide IP network. Cox Business Services is a full-service, facilities-based
provider of communications solutions for commercial customers, providing
high-speed Internet, voice and long-distance services, as well as data
and video transport services for small to large-sized businesses. Cox
Media offers national and local cable advertising in traditional spot
and new media formats, along with promotional opportunities and production
services. More information about the services of Cox Communications, a
wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is available at www.cox.com,
www.coxbusiness.com, and www.coxmedia.com.
Media Contact:
Cox Communications
Stephanie Davis
404-843-7872
Stephanie.Davis2@Cox.com
Cox Communications
David Grabert
404-269-7054
David.Grabert@Cox.com
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Communications Department
703-837-6111
media@ncmec.org
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