Thursday, June 20, 2013

Sharing Passwords


Parents need to remind their teens not to share their passwords with friends and to treat passwords as private.  

Although, teens still need to let their parents know their passwords for their own safety and protection.  Some studies have shown that one third of all teens between the ages of 14 and 18 years old share their passwords with their friends.  Teens are sharing passwords as a sign of trust between friends. This type of behavior can put them into danger because now other people have access to their social networking accounts, cell phones, emails and iPads. A password gives a person some sort of privacy and protection, so when teens give out their passwords their security is gone.

The sharing of passwords can lead to cyber-bullying.  Here is an example of what could happen when passwords are shared. There are two teenagers, “teen A” and “teen B” and have been friends forever and one day “teen A” gets mad at “teen B,” so “teen A” decides to share “teen B’s” password with friends “XYZ.”  Well of course, one of these teens doesn’t like “teen B” so he/she uses the password and post something horrible on “teen B’s” Facebook account. Teens need to remember not all relationships end up “happily ever after” especially when teens start sharing passwords.

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