Parenting Teenagers - Precautions For Teenagers Chatting Online

Parenting Teenagers has become a tough task for today's parents. If your teenager is one of those who loves chatting and making friends online, there are few things that you need to be careful about in these days of cyber crime. With hacking becoming a rampant problem, your children past chats can reveal a lot of your personal details. To ensure that your children do not fall into any such trap, ask your teenger to keep the following points in mind.

Never reveal your financial details: You could be chatting online about money matters, but ensure that you never reveal any money related details. Be it your account number or credit/debit card number, do not reveal these things over chat. Don’t add just about anyone to your chatlist: Do not add people to your chat list to have a long list of ‘friends’. Know the person a bit before adding him/her to your chat list.

Be careful when in chat rooms: Chat rooms are a good place to interact with people, but understand that there are strangers lurking, so be attentive about what you are saying.

Be polite, but not over-friendly: If someone pings you, it is alright to answer them or chat with them, but don’t get over-friendly. Do not promise to meet them or be their best buddy. If someone suggests that you should meet during the first chat, blocking that person is perhaps a good idea.

Don’t use profanities: While gossiping online is very much in, don’t use profanities when in a chat room. Saying nasty things about other people in cyberspace is called ‘flaming’. You can be barred if you say things that the moderator doesn’t approve of.

Watch what you say: Some organisations get experts to keep a tab on their employees chats. Maybe it is a good idea to not gossip about office politics over chat. Keep it for conversations over coffee with friends at some cafe.

No expectations:  The basic rule of chatting is that do not expect anything if you are chatting with a stranger. You don’t know the person on the other end, so don’t expect him/her to be funny, witty or sensitive. The conversation might lead to a friendship or it may just end after the first chat. Don not be hurt if someone does not want to be your friend and ignores you or blocks you. Be open minded about these things when you get ready to log on.

Source: TOI