Teen Angels – Educating Young Internet Users to be Safe Online
The Internet is a great tool for communication, education and entertainment. However, like any open community, the Internet can be targeted by criminals who intend harm to users. Some of the worst online criminals prey on children. They use the Internet because they know the Internet is fun and that kids enjoy being online.
The growth of social networking sites such as MySpace.com and Facebook.com has further highlighted issues related to online child safety. Does the actual risk to children merit this attention? One piece of data provides a small clue: The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) receives approximately 2,000 reports of internet child exploitation each week. Children themselves sometimes, just being kids, will use poor judgment in the types of information and pictures they post online.
Groups like TeenAngels.ORG are a solution to the dangers of the Internet and can help return it to a safe and fun place for everyone. By engaging teenagers to assist those younger than them and providing education about online safety, this .ORG plays an important role in making the Internet safe. It is great to catch online criminals, but by educating and empowering users to be safe online, it is even better to prevent abuse from ever happening. Children often listen more closely to their own peers about issues than adults. This .ORG is successfully using their peer network to spread an effective message about online safety. .ORG’s like TeenAngels.org are playing an important role in keeping children safe online. Read more about this Extraordinary .ORG on our website.
