Wednesday July 16...Added post on "Social Networking"
I was tuned into "Good Morning America" this morning and they had a segment on "Social Networking". It was focused on a child that was playing games on Facebook. The child downloaded a computer game and for extra points was asked to fill out a credit application. Well as a child, who would think that this would cause problems?? Well, they filled in their social security # and received an application in the mail for a car loan !!
Please stress to your children to be careful what messages they put in any social network, such as myspace, facebook, youtube etc. Problems are showing up when kids leave a message that say they are going on vacation, (people are breaking into the family home) while they are gone, kids are leaving messages about where they work, what time they get off etc. Be aware of fraud alerts, put up a red flag when asked for SS#'s.
Be aware that facebook is private, but the games are not. I really worry about the children ( unsupervised kids, especially the young teen) who use the computers at the Library and are in these social networking sites.
The parents are responsible, but they are not around to supervise them!! What's a (mother) to do??