| The Seven Signs of Unsuitable Use or Contact | | | | America Online, MSN, Earthlink, and others, |
| From the Internet | | | | have made it increasingly difficult for |
| | | | children to receive unsuitable material |
| Home security is about protecting your | | | | through their Internet connections. These |
| family, and the most overlooked means of | | | | services have also allowed the parent to |
| entry is sitting in your living room...your | | | | restrict even more the online experience of |
| computer. The Internet has become a vast and | | | | their children. It is important that a |
| great resource for our children to learn | | | | parent reviews these increased security |
| things they would never have had the | | | | options and determine if they are applicable |
| opportunity to learn otherwise. We all | | | | to the online situation. |
| remember having to go to the library to | | | | |
| research our next term paper using the World | | | | However, most of these sites still allow |
| Book encyclopedia or the Periodicals catalog. | | | | access of minors to sites that are conducive |
| The Internet Age has allowed our children to | | | | to chatting and instant messages. It is |
| receive, almost instantaneously, information | | | | these areas, as well as electronic mail, that |
| it would otherwise have taken days to | | | | provide the greatest risk to our children. |
| receive. This "instantaneous" aspect of the | | | | Unlike the typical phone call, the Internet |
| Internet yields split second access to | | | | has no "face" or "voice" from which to |
| materials unsuitable for children to see or | | | | somehow identify the person our child is |
| hear. | | | | communicating to. The person happily |
| | | | chatting with our child via the Weather |
| So with that said, here are seven warning | | | | Channel chat room about cumulonimbus clouds |
| signs that may show your child is using the | | | | and the report the child is writing could |
| Internet in unsuitable ways: | | | | just as easily be a 50 year old pedophile |
| | | | waiting for his chance to trap the child into |
| 1 - Your child spends most of their home time | | | | divulging personal information about |
| on the Internet. | | | | themselves and their location. |
| | | | |
| 2 - Your child quickly turns off the monitor | | | | It is extremely important that we advocate to |
| or shuts the computer down when you enter the | | | | our school communities the hazards which |
| computer room. | | | | exist for our children on the Internet. |
| | | | There are resources available to you that |
| 3 - You receive phone calls from strangers | | | | will expand on the signs of abuse and the |
| asking to speak to your child. | | | | steps to take in protecting your child from |
| | | | experiencing this unsuitable content on the |
| 4 - You recognize outgoing phone calls, | | | | Internet. |
| mostly long distance, from your residence to | | | | |
| phone numbers you do not recognize. | | | | In the next addition, I'll detail steps the |
| | | | parent can take in monitoring and helping to |
| 5 - Your child begins receiving gifts from | | | | ensure that their child is not being |
| people and addresses that you do not | | | | exploited on the Internet. |
| recognize. | | | | |
| | | | ©Walter Stone |
| 6 - Your child's personality begins to | | | | |
| change, becoming more combative when asked to | | | | Home Security Online |
| reduce his/her computer usuage. | | | | |
| | | | Security Systems, alarms, motion detectors. |
| 7 - You pull up pornographic or other | | | | |
| unsuitable materials from your computer's | | | | Read more on protecting your home. |
| hard drive. | | | | |
| | | | **Usuage of content requires author name, bio |
| The major Internet access sites, including | | | | & links remain intact as displayed. |