We noticed this interesting article from The New York Times this week. What struck us as a very noteworthy quote was the sentiment of one of the parents profiled:

“It’s really hard to control what our kids are doing online,” says Anne Collier, a writer who provides online safety information for parents. “What we have here is really kind of the new Wild West. Nobody is really in charge.”

This frustration is very prevalent among parents we speak with these days. The dramatic up-tick in the number of social networking sites on the Internet, in conjunction with how these sites can be abused, has led to a great deal of confusion. What separates a benign past time for the average 13 year old from a potentially very dangerous activity? The simplest way to protect children online requires that parents become educated on this topic and then monitor the activity of their children. When a child knows that there is oversight in their digital realm they will be less likely to engage in risky behaviors within that sphere. Microsoft has a pretty good site that helps parents educate themselves on how to protect their children online, particularly if you happen to be a Windows user.

Furthermore, parents can opt to take a truly pro-active stance and doing research of their own.

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