When Kids Venture Online

From guest blogger Jeremy Olson, the Strib's new(ish) Children and Families reporter...

In reporting Sunday's story on cyberbullying, I interviewed Stanley Holditch of InternetSafety.com – a maker of online monitoring software – regarding children who post pictures or videos online.

We talked about recent news reports about Jessica Leonhardt, 11, of Florida who received harassing emails and phone calls – to the point she was briefly placed in protective custody – after she posted a profane and attention-grabbing video on YouTube this summer.

While most children might not be that vulgar, Holditch said they can still put themselves at risk if their rash outbursts or pranks are recorded and posted online.

"That's being a kid," he said. "That's natural. That's part of growing up. However, we've introduced a new element into growing up in that those moments of not saying the smartest things can not only be immortalized forever (when recorded) they can easily spread to millions of people."

Parents should assess the maturity of their children more than their age in deciding how much freedom they can have online. Most social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have rules prohibiting postings by anyone younger than 13.

"My personal opinion is that most kids are not really equipped to handle all of the possible repercussions and consequences and are not really mature enough to know what they should be putting out there about themselves," he said, "probably until they get to be 16 or 17. Parents need to think about one thing in particular in making this decision in their own homes and with their own kids: This is the first time in human history that anyone without any prior training or without going through certain steps can have access to an audience of millions."

"The child might know more about what social networks are out there and how to upload a video on YouTube, sure," he said. "The child might be a little more web savvy than the parents, but the parents can't forget that they are life savvy and the child is not. Parents are aware of what can happen to your reputation and how that can impact you later in life. They are aware of the type of negative attention that you can get but you don't want. Whereas kids, especially at 11, 12, 13, 14, they just want attention, you know. They think it's neat and it's new. They're not thinking down the line."

Holditch encouraged parents to place computers in open spaces in their homes where they can be easily monitored. He added that parents should make some effort to become more aware of social networking and the things their children like to do online.

"Unlimited access to a web that is very much like a big party, with people of all age and all backgrounds, is just a bad idea for a young child," he said. "Parents, when thinking about the web, should think, 'Would I drop my child off at a party with people I don't know?'"

InternetSafety is one of several companies offering safety software that parents can use to monitor their children's texts and emails and restrict the hours when they are online. Holditch advised parents to use any such software openly, and to tell their children rather than to make it a secret.