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David Palmer
ChristianNetcast.com

Social Media And Our Kids

 

 

 

 

This past week a family in our local community lost a child, a beautiful 15 year-old girl. She had been communicating with a 20 year-old man online and was murdered the same day she disappeared from her home. The man with whom she had been communicating with online has been charged with murder.  Meanwhile, a family and community are shocked and heartbroken.

 

As the owner of ChristianNetcast.com, considered by many as an expert in technology and social media and a father I beg of you: be aware of your children’s social media activity. We all love Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. They help us reconnect with old friends and keep us caught up on what’s going on in the lives of friends and families. However, unfortunately there are those who will use social media to do the unthinkable.

 

Here are some helpful suggestions to protect your children on line:

 

1.       Frequently check your kid’s friends list and who they're interacting with on social media.  Be on the lookout for anyone who is older than your child recently added to their friends list.

2.       Check the chat and message history of your child’s computer and social media accounts on a regular basis. If the history has been deleted you need to find out why immediately.

3.       Strongly discourage your child from adding provocative pictures of themselves.

4.       Talk to your kids face to face! Make your child aware of the real dangers of online predators and let them know to come to you right away if they ever feel uneasy or unsafe.

 

If asked many kids will respond with, “ya I now that person,” but dig deeper.  It never hurts to ask "where did you meet them?" or "how do you know them?"   If the answer is "online," then you need to fully investigate their communication.

 

I cannot begin to image the grief that the family of this young girl is feeling.

 

None of us want to. 

 

Please take an active role in your kid’s social media activity.

 


David Palmer is co-founder of ChristianNetcast.com. With 20 years of internet experience, David has assisted ministries in taking their message global with the ever evolving world of technology. With over 500 Christian radio stations as clients, ChristianNetcast has be come a leader in streaming technologies. His goal is to see Christian broadcasters use every tool available, so that ministries can have an impact beyond their four walls and zip codes. As technologies have evolved, David has held the hand of many ministries as they have watched their church grow to include virtual congregations. His diverse experience as a Navy Veteran, ordained Minister and coach have made him a fun and informative speaker at Universities, high schools and Conventions. David has been featured on Fox News, 700 Club and TBN .

 

ChristianNetcast is the parent company of ChristianNetcast.com, CNC Technologies, MainstreamNetwork and NWR Network. ChristianNetcast.com was birthed in 1999, in what many would consider the most unlikely place to establish an internet company. While many internet startups were based in the Silicon Valley, ChristianNetcast.com was started in what used to be the lumber capital of the world, Bangor Maine. Todd VanTasel and David Palmer, founders of ChristianNetcast.com were attending a local church and saw the need to have the churches services broadcasted on the internet. When other ministries learned how the church was using this new streaming technology, they soon wanted to use the same type of tools for their church. The word about ChristianNetcast.com quickly spread and the company began to receive international recognition and was featured on television and radio programs such as Fox News, CBN, 700 Club and TBN. In 2006 the company moved its headquarters to Virginia Beach VA. ChristianNetcast.com currently serves over 500 ministries worldwide.