Youth Online Behavior

statistic about youth online behavior

Being online is both a normal and integral part of life today in the United States – especially for the youth population. They have been accessing the internet for most of their lives, and probably can’t imagine life without it.

Tweens and teens encounter all aspects of the internet, both positive and negative. While the beneficial pieces of being online are many, there are also risks associated with it that youth and the adults in their lives should be aware of. Parents especially must be involved in setting a safe and appropriate foundation for their children’s online behavior, allowing kids to develop into smart and savvy internet users.

Here are the statistics about youth online behavior:

Basic Online Behavior

* Over 70% of students go online at least once per week.

* Nearly 85% spend at least one hour on the Internet on a weekly basis.

* 33% use e-mail, instant messages and chat rooms as the main ways they keep in contact with their friends.

* 54% of students say that they have taken no other computer classes related to the Internet.

* Teens have established significant presence on social networking web pages: 61% of 13- to 17-year-olds have a personal profile on a site such as MySpace, Friendster, or Xanga. Half have also posted pictures of themselves online.

* Older teens (16-17s) and girls especially use the Internet for social interaction, meeting friends, and networking.

Risky Online Behavior

* 53% like being alone when “surfing” the Internet.

* 12% have unsupervised access to the Internet at school.

* 10% chat, e-mail or Instant Message (IM) while at school.

* 39% have given out personal information (name, e-mail address, age, gender) online (when entering a contest, playing online games or signing up for websites).

* 31% have chatted or used IM with someone on the Internet that they have not met “face to face”.

* 12% have met a new person from the Internet “face to face”.

* 13% are willing to meet “face to face” with someone new they meet on the Internet.

* 8% say that, while on the Internet, someone has asked them to keep their friendship a secret.

* 53% have seen something on the Internet that shouldn’t be on the Internet.

* 64% know of or have heard about other students who have done something on the Internet that shouldn’t be done.

Internet Security Tips for Youth：

While social networking sites can increase your circle of friends, they also can increase your exposure to people with less-than-friendly intentions. Here are some things you can do to socialize safely online:

* Think about how different sites work before deciding to join a site. Some sites allow only a defined community of users to access posted content; others allow anyone and everyone to view postings.

* Keep some control over the information you post by restricting access to your page.

* Keep your full name, Social Security number, address, phone number, and bank or credit card account numbers to yourself.

* Make sure your screen name doesn't say too much about you. Even if you think it makes you anonymous, it doesn't take a genius to combine clues to figure out who you are and where you can be found.

* Post only information that you are comfortable with others seeing and knowing.

* Consider not posting your photo. It can be altered or broadcast in ways you may not be happy about.

* Flirting with strangers online could have serious consequences. Some people lie about who they really are.

* Be wary if a new friend wants to meet you in person. If you decide to meet them, meet in a public place, during the day, with friends you trust. And tell a responsible adult where you're going.

* Trust your gut if you have suspicions. If you feel threatened by someone or uncomfortable because of something online, tell an adult you trust, and then report it to the police.

Parental Control Software Solution:

SurveilStar Parental Control Software is specially designed to monitor and control all the youth online behavior, protecting them on the internet, keeping them away from cyberbullying, online predator and all the online dangers.

In order to record the youth online behavior and keep them away from the internet dangers such as child predator, Cyberbullying, Cyberstalking, Malicious code,etc, installing the computer controlling software is of great urgency.

SurveilStar Any Parental Control software is a versatile and easy-to-use computer controlling program that can help record real-time screen snapshot of children’s online behaviors, track the email sent and received, block unwanted websites, filter out sexual images, monitor children’s online activity, limit the amount of time your child spends online and much more. SurveilStar Any Parental Control is a trustworthy and useful safeguard that keeps all the internet threats and online dangers inaccessible to your children.

Main Features of SurveilStar Any Parental Control Software:

• Take Screen Snapshots

Watch real-time screen to monitor all the youth online behavior. Or simply record their screen snapshots and view the screen history whenever you are free.

• Email Monitoring

Record all emails sent and received with details. Allow or block the unwanted Emails and stop the spams that possibly spread internet dangers like the advertisement of porn or gambling sites, which is harmful to the youth.

• Website Visit Monitoring

Record all visited websites with HTML tile and URL. Allow visiting specified websites or block the websites which you think is inappropriate to the youth. Support IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera and many more browsers.

• Instant Messages Monitoring

To record all the instant message of youth online behavior in chat rooms. Keep parents know what they are talking, who they are talking to. Thus parents can stop the action and take immediate measures if the youth meet the online predators or other online dangers in the chat room.