Cyber Communities Are Huge With Teens; Safekeeper Monitors - And Blocks - Them

Cyber communities and other social networking sites and IM tools are huge with teens.

Whenever parents hear something about the popular MySpace or Xanga sites on the Internet, odds are it’s bad news. And yes, teens are at risk online. Safekeeper helps parents become "digital parents" by putting parent-approved Internet rules, controls, monitors and blocking securely in effect.

The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding explores the role the Internet plays in teens’ lives and the role parents can play in protecting them, seeking to "demystify the whole process of these online social communities.” The Center estimates at least 50 percent of teens go on these sites, and among those teens users, about 60 percent end up getting accounts on places such as MySpace and Xanga.

Xanga profiles helping teens live "double lives". Child predators communicating and luring underage girls online so they can meet in real time. Cyber bullies, porn images, adult sexual advertising or offensive text postings on teens' MySpace sites.

Then there are real life Internet stories like Mark Foley.

It’s enough to make parents pull the plug on their home computer.

But Ken Mueller, director of media resources at the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, says that may be an extreme reaction.

Is the Internet is safe? No, Mueller says, parents must be vigilant. The Internet is considered by many people a necessary part of life these days. “We want parents to understand their kids’ culture,” says Mueller, who has three children of his own, ages 17, 14 and 11, and he knows it can be tough to monitor kids’ activities while letting them gain independence.

“We can’t be paranoid. You want to trust your kids,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean not knowing what’s going on in their lives. If you have a teen and he wants to go out on Friday night, the typical parent wants to know, ‘Where are you going, who are you going with, when will you be home?’ And if it’s a friend you don’t know, you want to meet them first and get to know them better.”

It shouldn't be any different when a teen goes on the Internet.

With Safekeeper, you can monitor Internet usage -- including transcript reports from your teens' IM and chat room usage. Even Yahoo's new IM-within-email tool. Parents control web access, customizing which sites are approved and which are not. And Safekeeper helps protect your kids from child predators through Family Watchdog.

Go to mySafekeeper.com today and download a free trial for your PC and make the Internet safer for your family.