With the number of teens spending much of their time online and so many new websites, gadgets and digital platforms popping up everyday, how can parents effectively monitor their teens’ online habits? There are some things parents can do to help ensure the online safety of their teens while building connections with their world.

Here are some suggestions to help you stay connected.

1. Require the computer to be in a common area in the home.
2. Talk to your kids about why they are on a social networking site and how they represent themselves on these sites.  Make it clear to them any information they post is open for the world to see including photos and videos.
3. Review your teen’s profile together and make this a regular activity so there isn’t temptation to add inappropriate content after the fact.
4. Be consistent with setting rules and consequences pertaining to alcohol and substance abuse content on their social networking pages.
5. Learn to decode the the lingo.  This is an important monitoring skill.  Visit www.teenchatdecoder.com to decode slang and chat lingo.

You can find more information on this topic as well as suggestions for cell phone monitoring (7 out of 10 teens have cell phones), online music and videos at www.TheAntiDrug.com.

For additional information on abbreviations, acronyms, emoticons visit www.netlingo.com.