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Kim Komando...
Having ‘The Talk’
with your teen
Hey parents. Have you had “The Talk” with your teen yet? No, I don’t
mean that talk. But there’s another one that is almost as important
these days.
I’m referring to the talk about staying safe with smartphones and
social-media activity. Haven’t done that yet? If you’ve been putting it
off because you don’t know what to cover, I’m here to help.
A recent report from the Pew Research Center indicates that one in four
teens now owns a smartphone. While I use the word teen in this column,
my advice also extends to preteens. It’s never too early to bring up
the subject of online safety. As a parent, you no doubt realize that
kids do far more texting than talking.
What you might not know is that kids are also doing a lot more mobile
messaging through online social platforms, and this often includes
sharing their location with friends.
If they’re not using location-sharing platforms properly, it can lead
to real security and privacy risks. You don’t want your kids
unwittingly broadcasting their whereabouts and other personal
information to strangers.
Many of these tremendously popular social networking apps, such as
FourSquare, are free. You may not even know your kids are using them or
how they work.
Basically, they allow kids to “check in” to a location and tell friends
what they’re doing. They may be at a concert, a movie or a cool new
coffee shop. As you might expect, businesses love location-sharing
apps; owners often offer discounts or reward points to users who check
in or achieve certain levels, such as “Mayor.”
For obvious reasons, you never want your teen checking in at home or at
someone else’s home. There are a whole lot of people who do not need to
know that information! Similarly, teach your child never to reveal a
friend’s location without checking with them first. Your teen’s friends
should extend the same courtesy.
Location-sharing apps usually sync with Facebook and Twitter. Unlike
Facebook, which can be tightly restricted to friends and family, the
communication taking place on Twitter is public and viewable to
everyone. That’s just one reason that it’s important to start young
teenagers with protected Twitter accounts until they demonstrate that
they can use the site responsibly.
Kids also need to be smart about sharing pictures. Show them how to go
into their smartphone settings and turn off geo-tagging. This pinpoints
the exact location, time and date that photos are taken. Remind kids
that school uniforms, license plates and landmarks in photos can also
give away too much information.
Read the rest of this article and others at Kim Komando
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