We used to have just one home 'phone, one TV and maybe one computer, now kids can connect with other people anywhere, from anywhere and anytime. Katy Gosset asks: how do we help them navigate all that?
Everything's online these days and that's where our kids hang out every day.
Katy Gosset looks at how to keep them safe on social media where not everyone tells the truth.
Subscribe free to Are We There Yet? on iPhones: iTunes, RadioPublic or Spotify. On Android phones: RadioPublic or Stitcher.
When Jo's young son, Sam*, got friended by a bikini-clad babe he 'thought all his dreams had come true in one go'.
His mother, Jo*, relates that her 14 year old was approached on Facebook by the older girl.
"The photo ...was of this absolutely stunningly gorgeous girl jumping off a boat in a bikini into a blue lagoon."
"That's not real but, as a mother, I know that."
Her adolescent son thought otherwise and was soon sharing plenty of information with his new friend.
"This girl was befriended and chatting and asking 'Where do you live?' and 'Who are your friends?' and 'What sort of things are you into?'"
Jo told Sam to delete her from his account but the damage was already done.
"It came back to bite us on the bum because we then started getting phone calls in the middle of the night.
"As it turns out, this person was not a 16 year old girl at all."
But that can be hard for a young boy to work out.
"The people who are trawling the Internet getting information out of kids are just so blimmin' good at it. It is scary," Jo said.
She said adults were also frequently 'scammed' on the Internet.
"You know, we don't pick it up, so how can we trust in children to pick it up?"
The answer is to arm them with some practical rules for navigating their online accounts.
Clinical psychologist, Catherine Gallagher, warned children to be wary of anyone asking too many questions.
"What conversations or what questions might you start to get concerned about?"
"Or, actually you get a request from someone you don't know who suddenly wants to get more and more intimate in terms of what they want to know about you. That's a flag."
Restricting the use of devices had its place but, long term, parents were better off preparing their children for the cyber environment, she said.
"We need to teach them how to be critical evaluators of that online world so that they can exist and thrive in this medium."…