Dangers of Social Networking

"He says the invisible nature of internet communication makes it very difficult for regulators, law enforcement and the Government to take action, and says that is why parents need to be more involved."

The dangers in social networking are no better or worse than real life. You get played for a sucker all the time these days. The trick, I guess , is to surround yourself by people whom you trust and who will look out for you. Social networking is no different. One of the real advantages is that you can build a mixed network of different ages and interests. You can do your best to make it authentic and yet still find out someone is in there under false pretences trying to take advantage. For anyone it is a simple matter of keeping sensible conversations going in real life, so articles like this one on the ABC site provide a good reason to be talking about such matters. You also find your network will look out for you, look after you and some people just can pick up someone suss really easily and let you know. They have a nose for it. So, with kids, they need to be in networks where they are surrounded by people they know and trust. It works well because the support is then there and the eyes and ears are open. It's the same in real life....people have to be there for each other.