The internet and social media provide young people with a range of benefits, and opportunities to empower themselves in a variety of ways. Young people can maintain social connections and support networks that otherwise wouldn't be possible, and can access more information than ever before. The communities and social interactions young people form online can be invaluable for bolstering and developing young people's self-confidence and social skills.

However, for whatever its benefits, the internet and social media pose very real and unfettered dangers upon unsuspecting, naïve and impressionable young people.

Parents need to be absolutely wary and alert at all times of the harmful impact of the internet/social media on their children - such as the exposure to cyber-bullying, the recruitment of child labour, a conduit for human trafficking, a harvesting ground for paedophiles, pornography, etc. - all of which are totally unacceptable.

Parents should be vigilant, maintain regular supervision and remind unsuspecting children of the serious dangers that exist in the use of internet technology and social media.

Just as we prepare our children for life in the real world, we should prepare them for life in the online world.

Children need to know that everyone online is a stranger and standard rules of discipline always apply.

Thursday, 09 April 2015

SENT TO: Daily News, The Mercury, Independent on Saturday, The Witness, The Star

Darul Ihsan Media Desk