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Online Safety Concerns
11:04 AM, Apr. 22, 2008
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As a parent, I have become aware of some online safety concerns. Don't share your email address: you might receive abusive emails. Don't give any personal details: you might have someone nasty find you in real life. Don't share photos: they can be photoshopped by ped*philes.But yesterday I came across a different issue that I hadn't really thought about before. My husband and I occasionally play an online game called Runescape together. Yesterday I overheard a frightening conversation between two players. One seemed to be a teenager who identified himself as being very depressed. The other was I don't know who, and was trying to counsel this other person. Now, this is obviously not an appropriate conversation to be having in public chat in an online game. But anyway. The teen was talking about his problems to this person he obviously trusted but didn't know in real life. In fact they said that they hadn't even met ingame for two months. The other person broke the rules of the game twice by asking for real life information; what State the teen lived in, and what jobs his parents did. The alarm bells were ringing and I reported him for abuse on both accounts. The conversation went worse, and the other person managed to convince the teen that all his problems were caused by his parents, and that they are responsible for his suffering. Anything I said was immediately treated with disdain. "We weren't talking to you" Yeah? Well try talking in private chat! Anyway, there was nothing I could do except warn the teen that he was in danger (which I did), report the abuser (which I did) and pray (which I did). Then I changed worlds and moved on. But it did open up to me a whole new era for online abuse; strangers accessing our children and stealing their hearts from their parents. Now my kids don't access the internet without supervision, and with the oldest only five they do NOT play games that allow conversations between players. The internet can be a wonderful place, full of information and friends and interactive entertainment. But it can also be a dangerous place, and it's definitely worth staying cautious around it. Leave a Comment { Last Page } { Page 47 of 209 } { Next Page } |
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