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Internet-Related Safety Tips for Teens
1. Don’t give out personal information about yourself, your family
situation, your school, your telephone number, or your address.
2. If you become aware of the sharing, use, or viewing of child
pornography online, immediately report this to the National Center for
Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678.
3. When in chatrooms remember that not everyone may be who they
say they are. For example a person who says "she" is a 14-year-old girl
from New York may really be a 42-year-old man from California.1
4. If someone harasses you online, says anything inappropriate,
or does anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, contact your Internet
service provider.
5. Know that there are rules many Internet Service Providers (ISP)
have about online behavior. If you disobey an ISP's rules, your ISP may
penalize you by disabling your account, and sometimes every account in
a household, either temporarily or permanently.
6. Consider volunteering at your local library, school, or Boys
& Girls Club to help younger children online. Many schools and nonprofit
organizations are in need of people to help set up their computers and
Internet capabilities.
7. A friend you meet online may not be the best person to talk
to if you are having problems at home, with your friends, or at school
- remember the teenage "girl" from New York in Tip number three? If you
can't find an adult in your school, church, club, or neighborhood to talk
to, Covenant House is a good place to call at 1-800-999-9999. The people
there provide counseling to kids, refer them to local shelters, help them
with law enforcement, and can serve as mediators by calling their parents.
8. If you are thinking about running away, a friend from online
(remember the 14-year-old girl) may not be the best person to talk to.
If there is no adult in your community you can find to talk to, call the
National Runaway Switchboard at 1-800-621-4000. Although some of your
online friends may seem to really listen to you, the Switchboard will
be able to give you honest, useful answers to some of your questions about
what to do when you are depressed, abused, or thinking about running away.2
1Adapted from Teen Safety on the Information Highway by
Lawrence J. Magid. Copyright© respectively 1994 and 1998 National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). All rights reserved.
2Adapted from Children Online: The ABCs for Parenting: When
Is Your Child Ready by The Children's Partnership. Reprinted with permission
of The Children's Partnership. http://www.childrenspartnership.org
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