Statistics show teens spend more than 53 hours a week devoted to entertainment media. Much of that is surfing the Web.
Staying involved and using common sense are the two best tools parents have to making sure their kids are responsible and safe users of technology, according to area police.
Youngstown police Detective Sgt. Jason Simon and Warren Patrolman Geoff Fusco both said parents need to be involved in their kids' online lives and closely monitor their activity.
Fusco, who is his department's expert on computers, said his No. 1 rule for computers and kids is to make sure the computer is in a common room that is used by everyone.
''A lot of people like to put their computer in a room they don't use,'' Fusco said. ''If you don't use (the room), how are you going to watch your kids?''
The monitor should be turned so everyone in the room can see it, Fusco said.
These are just a few hints for Internet usage, which increases significantly when children hit the 11-to-14-year-old age group.
Overall media usage increases to an average of 11:53 minutes per day from 7:51 minutes per day for 8- to 10-year-olds.
Simon, who also handles computer-related cases for his department, said parents need to closely monitor their kids' Web activity, especially on popular social networking sites such as MySpace, Twitter and Facebook.
Parents should not only know who their kids are talking to on those sites, but also should have a way to check it themselves.
''The parents should have access to all the accounts,'' Simon said.
Simon said parents have to be forceful if they think their kids are misusing the computer.
''Don't be afraid from preventing your kids to use sites if they're not responsible,'' Simon said.
Fusco said another parents also should know all the online passwords their children use. The most effective method is to be honest with your children, he said. Parents should tell them they will check their Web traffic and also that they must have their passwords.
Most trouble is caused by kids trying to sneak around, he said. By being honest up front, you are letting them know the rules and how they will be enforced, Fusco said.
''Be up front with them and check it,'' he said.
Parents also should tell their children to never give a specific street address when they are communicating with others online, Fusco said. They can say what city they live in, but they should leave it at that, he said.
Posting photos of themselves online should be strictly forbidden. Kids should also never send a picture of themselves online, Fusco said. That picture will stay online forever.
''Once you send it, it never comes back,'' Fusco said.
Still, studies show that 64 percent of teens ages 12 to 17 create online content, with nearly half of online teens posting photos where others can see them, and 89 percent of those teens who post photos say that people comment on the images at least ''some of the time.''
That's according to information released by Young Adult Library Services Association, or YALSA. The group this month sponsored Teen Tech Week, a national initiative aimed at ensuring that teens are competent and ethical users of technology.
If parents are interested in taking a more proactive approach to their kids' Internet usage, Simon and Fusco said software is available that can track the online activity of children. Each suggested Net Nanny as a good program to use. Fusco said there is software that parents can buy to track everything on your computer. Some of it can be found for less than $100.
Simon said children are sometimes gullible to online scams, so parents need to monitor that as well. He said a general rule of thumb for scams is that if it's too good to be true, avoid it.
Both officers said one of the most common problems they see with computer use with children is threats, especially on MySpace and Facebook. Simon said parents can also be held liable for their children's use of the computer if they do not make a good faith effort to watch what their kids are doing with the computer.
''Parents may wind up answering to a court why they were not monitoring,'' Simon said.
