A Penn State study shows that college students find texting irresistible even at the most inappropriate situation.
IN PHOTO: A student from the General Yermolov Cadet School plays with her mobile phone during a two-day field exercise near the village of Sengileyevskoye, just outside the south Russian city of Stavropol April 13, 2014. The General Yermolov Cadet School in the southern Russian city of Stavropol is a state-run institution that teaches military and patriotic classes in addition to a normal syllabus. The school allows its pupils to take part in field-training trips, during which they spend time at a base and undergo physical drills and weapons training. The outings are seen as a treat for students, and those with bad grades are not allowed to go. The school is named after the Russian imperial general Alexei Yermolov and many of its students are from military backgrounds. Picture taken April 13, 2014. Reuters/Eduard Korniyenko

Technological ownership in this mobile-driven era is no longer a surprising statistic among teens, who reported on having access to various mobile devices — mobile phones, laptops and game consoles. Insights from Pew Research specifically reported about 30 percent of these teens — aged 13 to 17 — owned a basic phone, while three-quarters report having a smartphone.

Desktop and laptop ownership accounted for 87 percent of teens, while 81 percent have access to game consoles. Overall, teens have a wide access to tech devices that can be used to gain access to the internet.

Nearly 56 percent of teens from the same age group, access the internet most of the time. About 94 percent of teens polled reported on using the internet at least once daily, while only 6 percent reported going online weekly.

More than the need to connect with friends, internet access among teens now have become a valuable tool they use for research, projects and other school activities. Digital connectivity also offers potential benefits to both parents and children in terms of communication like connecting to them in times when they need to find out about their children’s whereabouts.

Dangers of internet access are real

With vast information made available to them with just a touch of a fingertip, parents should be aware of the dangers lurking in the mobile web — harassment, cyberbullying and identity theft.

According to the Child Development Institute (CDI), the internet can be very dangerous to children and teens. Some children find themselves victims of false identities through new friends found on social media. It is easier for these internet predators to access children’s profile since they can lie about their age. In an unmonitored web access, teens can gain access to various web portals with adult content and even cyber bullying has become rampant among kids in this age group.

Thus, there is a crucial need for parents to monitor their online activities but without being too intrusive.

Sixty-one percent of parents agree on this and check the websites their teens have visited, while about 60 percent of parents turn on the stalker mode to check on their teen’s social media profiles. About half of the parents of teens polled admitted to following their teen on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms they're engaged in. Other parents, in their hope to control their teens’ online activities, resort to limiting screen time, while some are privy to their teen's passwords — email and other social media profiles.

Parents of teens reported on using parental control tracking tools to monitor their children’s online activities. According to a blog , monitoring tools save parents time on manually checking each text message, tweet or post, and even photos shared by teens. Some parents even block online content that they deem harmful for their teens.

Another effective way to limit teens from accessing inappropriate online materials is to establish safety rules for children, says the same CDI source. To start with, let teens know they cannot give out private information because of the dangers mentioned earlier. Setting rules regarding the social media networks they can access, not allowing them to post private photos and discouraging them from engaging in other forums or online conversation also help.

According to UNICEF , linking valuable information to children such as news sites will help them to stay away from the inappropriate online content. Credible sites like BBC, Born2Invest , and Reuters that deliver valuable content to people are safer and can be appealing with their coverage on travel, automobiles, and latest trends.

The impact of the internet in the lives of children is clearly evident and is expected to continually expand. More than the ability to meet the demands of online access, parents is responsible for educating their teens about the benefits and dangers of online access. There should be open communication among parents and teen about certain expectations that should be met. By setting guidelines for safe browsing and proper guidance, parents need not be wary about their children going online on their own when the right time comes.

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