Good News about Kids' Online Behavior

Study shows that cyberbullying and internet harassment have declined.

Study and Report about Kids' Online Behavior

McAfee, a computer security company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, has made a study about kids online behavior. The study, conducted by Harris Interactive, included interviews with almost 1,400 10- to 17-year-olds.

The survey reported that "almost half of youth (46 percent) admit to having given out their personal information to someone they didn't know over the Internet," but when they break it down, the survey reveals that "when they do reveal personal information online, youth are most likely to share their first name (36 percent), age (28 percent), and/or e-mail address (19 percent). Only around 1 in 10 have given out slightly more personal information like a photo of themselves, their school name, last name, cell phone number, or a description of what they look like. And it's also reassuring to read in the study report that "youth draw the line at giving out personally identifiable information such as their parents' names, home address, or school address, and virtually no teens report having given out their Social Security number."

When it comes to cyberbullying, the report also paints a more optimistic picture than we've seen from some other studies. Only 11 percent admit to ever engaging in some form of cyberbullying behavior. Even though the press release about the report says "Cyberbullying on the rise," the report itself shows that the percentage of teens reporting that they have "ever been bullied or harassed online decreased substantially from 15 percent in 2008 to 8 percent in 2010. Far from an increase, that's an impressive 47 percent decline in two years.

The press release on the report also says that "Nearly 50 Percent of Teens Don't Know What to Do if Cyberbullied," yet the report itself says that "1 in 4 teens say they wouldn't know what to do if they were bullied or harassed online" and that a "a significantly higher proportion disagree with this statement in 2010 than in 2008, suggesting that teens may now be better equipped to handle cyberbullying."

It further points out that "many youth who have been bullied or harassed online say they have made some adjustments to their online behavior as a result (72 percent)."

What should parents do to keep children's internet security?

Even though we are glad to see the good news that the cyberbullying, online predator, internet harassment is on decline, we still can never relax our vigilance about the kids' internet security. Children often lack the maturity and social judgment necessary to act responsibly in the unsupervised, anonymous free for the entire internet. They are always at the risk of encountering the online dangers. Help them protect themselves.

Internet Security Tips for Kids Online Behavior:

1 Encourage kids to keep passwords secret

• Don't reveal passwords to others

• Protect recorded passwords

• Never provide your password over email or in response to an email request

• Do not type passwords on computers that you do not control

2 Help your kids use social networking safely

• Communicate with kids about their experiences

• Establish Internet rules

• Teach your children never meet anyone in person that they've communicated with online only

• Encourage your children to communicate with people they already know.

• Teach your children about cyberbullying

3 If your kids blog, make sure they don't reveal too much

• Screen what your kids plan to post before they post it

• Evaluate the blogging service and find out if it offers private, password-protected blogs

• Save the web address of your child's blog and review it on a regular basis

• Check out other blogs to find positive examples for your kids to emulate

4 Beware of online fraud

• Never share personal information

• Log off in public

• Create secure passwords and keep them secret

• Use only secure sites

Parental Control Software Solution to Ensure Kids' Internet Security:

SurveilStar Parental Control Software is specially designed for parents to monitor and control kids' computer activity and online behavior and keep them far away from any online dangers.

Besides the internet security tips for kids you should know, a computer controlling tool is also essential to assist you to construct a healthy and safe internet environment for kids. SurveilStar Any Parental Control is a strongly recommended.

Main Features of SurveilStar Any Parental Control Software:

• Screen Snapshots Taking

Take the real-time screen snapshot of your kids' computer. It makes you keep a close eye on all your kids online behaviors anywhere anytime.

• Email Recording

Record the email sent & received. Filter out the unwanted Emails and stop the spams that possibly spread internet threats like the advertisement of porn or gambling sites.

• IM/Chat Controlling

Record all the instant message of your children in chat rooms. Keep you know what they are talking, who they are talking to. Thus you can stop the action and take immediate measures if your kids meet the online predators or other internet threats in the chat room.

• Website Visit Monitoring

Have a history record of the visited websites. Block some specific websites which may contain contents or images of sex, violence or strong language or hate speech. You can create lists of unacceptable websites and allow access to all others.