Helping your teen survive online: 

• Start young.  You have to make the off-line world more attractive and more fulfilling than the online world.

• Remove temptations:  Take away the keyboard and cell phone at night.

• Keep computers in a common area.  If they have to be in a bedroom, don't install recording programs and equipment such as a Web camera on the computer.

• Check the computer and the cell phone periodically.  If your teen knows your watching, he or she is less likely to misbehave.

• Beware of dummy sites:  Teens often have a MySpace page just for parents and another for themselves.  There are some clues:  dummy profiles are less likely to be heavily decorated.  So are ones where the newest blog postings are four days old.

• Take a MySpace or Facebook tour with your child.  Visit their profile and their friends' profiles.  Ask questions about what you see.  If you show your child you can have a rational discussion, it prevents a knee-jerk reaction.

~Candice Kelsey, author of "Generation MySpace: Helping your Teen Survive Online Adolescence" and Reynoldsburg police Detective Brian Marvin, a member of the FBI Cyber Crime Task Force of Central Ohio.