Online games are great for a lot of reasons. For one, they teach children how to be online citizens – as cloud computing gains dominance over every aspect of our business world and our culture in general, being able to get online and think in online terms is only optional if they’re going to be poor and rely exclusively on old fashioned types of human interaction – which are being increasingly supplanted with social networking tools and texting, anyway. For another, friendships formed online, even at a young age, can last into adulthood and yield opportunities down the road. Also, in the online world, kids can make the inevitable social mistakes we all make, without being socially branded or physically threatened.
But the Internet is a lawless place where everyone needs to keep reasonably aware, lest they become a victim.
Obviously, your children should NEVER under any circumstances arrange to meet with someone they have met through an online game. No matter how safe and harmless the person may seem to be online, their intentions can never be known through the filter of a computer screen. A good corollary to that is to make sure your children retain absolute secrecy regarding their personal details, including their social security number, last name, physical address and telephone number. Even infants can have their identities stolen, so make sure your children are aware that, for the most part, real life information needs to stay offline.
Also, make sure your children realize that since real life and online are separate; they need to be kept in balance with one another. Spending all of one’s time online leads to an unhealthy body and chronically strained eyes.
