Characteristics Of An Online Predator

With how easy it is to get access to the internet, whether at home or school, teens around America are using the internet every day and sometimes even for large portions of the day. They might be engaging in friendly conversation with friends or positive social networking interactions but might also be involved in falling victim to an online predator. Only through the use of parental control software can you be sure that you are monitoring what happens on the internet able to avoid or stop any ongoing digitals threats.

Computer monitoring software can help you gather a lot of information about the "stranger danger" if you aren’t aware of who it is so you can investigate the interactions. Some of this information or the characteristics you should look for are:

-Male over the age of 25

-Considered the guy who kept to himself and lives nearby

-Very few friends

-Typically not married

-Limited social skills

-Gets shy around or speaking to adults

-Isn’t hindered engaging with children socially

-Tends to find careers working with children – school teacher, janitor, coach, or even boy scout leader

Child predators rarely see anything wrong with their abnormal behavior and come from all walks of life (poor, rich, uneducated, educated). On average they have a very sad and serious history filled with sexually abuse and/or violent incidents. A child predator wont just target one child at a time but will typically target many different children at once. Predator’s use their words and actions to "groom" their potential victims. Grooming involves the use of affection, gifts, or anything else they can use to strengthen the bond they have with children. This makes it easy to build trust and gives them tools to use against the children in the form of guilt or blackmail to get what they want.

I urge every parent to start using parental control software, or any kind of computer monitoring software in order to increase awareness and secure at least one medium from these digital dangers. We both know your child is worth it.