Teen girls know their way around the Net, their parents 
By Karen Thomas
USA Today
February 13, 2002

Most teen girls consider themselves to be the savviest 
computer user in their home -- better than their brothers 
and, naturally, way better than their parents. 

Indeed, more than half the girls questioned in a new survey 
say they can chat, flirt, and even read parents' e-mail 
without them catching on. Almost 20% say they could hack 
into a school computer.

The survey, out today from the Girl Scouts of the USA, delves 
into the psyche of girls online and shows that teens are 
hiding a whole lot from their parents: 30% say they've been 
sexually harassed online (ranging from being asked their 
bra size to being sent naked pictures of men) but only 7% 
told their parents. Their reason: fear of being ''unplugged.''

''Girls experience emotionally complex situations online, such 
as porn spam, but they're not going to tell their parents,'' 
says lead researcher Whitney Roban.''They figure, 'If I don't 
tell them, they won't know what's happening.' ''

Among findings, based on surveys done from May through July 
2001 
of 1,246 girls ages 13-18:

* Girls are nearly unanimous (84%) that they know safe and unsafe 
online behavior and have ''common sense.'' But only 4% say nothing 
bad happens online.

* 58% of girls say they are the savviest computer user at home; 
14% say Mom knows the most, while 11% say Dad does. 

* 75% of girls say their parents have set up rules about online 
use, but most say parental involvement is limited to prohibitions 
such as ''don't talk to strangers,'' ''don't chat'' and ''don't 
give out personal information.'' (Though 57% say they follow 
parents' rules, 43% admit they don't.)

* Most girls say they can get around parents' rules; 86% say they 
can secretly chat, 57% can read parents' e-mail, and 54% can carry 
on a cyber love affair. Nearly half say they're able to set up an 
in-person meeting with an online friend (46%) and get into a porn 
site (42%), while 18% say they can hack into their school's 
computer.

Experts often advise parents to keep the lines of communication 
open, 
and the girls surveyed say they would like to discuss their online 
lives with their parents. But that may not be possible, unless 
''parents know what they're talking about,'' Roban says.

Even if they're sophisticated technologically, girls still need 
supervision and direction, she adds, and it's important for parents 
to know enough to be approachable. 

Girls say they know what they're doing, ''but they're still teenagers, 
and they're emotionally vulnerable.'' They know the dangers and try 
to avoid them, but ''if they chat with somebody a long time and 
build a relationship, they start to trust them. All they've learned 
about 'danger, danger, danger' melts away.''

Compared with the number of girls online, those who are lured into 
in-person meetings with pedophiles are rare. But they do occur.

Girls should be reminded of that, says Katherine Tarbox, who at 13 
was involved in one of the first federal online pedophilia 
prosecutions. 
Now 20, the author of Katie .com says girls need to be treated ''like 
young-adults-in-training, because that's what they're going on the 
Internet to find.''