WebWatcher Parental Advisory: Detecting and Preventing Teen Online Dating Violence

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) website, approximately one in four teens report verbal, physical, emotional, or sexual violence by a dating partner each year.  With teens constantly texting, instant messaging, and using social networking sites, teen dating violence is spreading rapidly online. Nineteen percent of teens in relationships say their partner has used a cellular device or the internet to spread rumors about them (Liz Claiborne, Inc/Teen Research Unlimited). While these online and mobile communications can serve as outlets for emotional aggression, they're traceable with parental monitoring software. Parents can gain important insights into their teens' lives by communicating with them about this important topic and better monitoring their web, email and mobile phone activity. In honor of National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, Awareness Technologies has provided the following tips for parents:

• Start by talking with your teen about dating habits and promote positive online relationships – discuss what makes a healthy relationship and encourage your child to surround him or herself with likeminded peers.
• Educate your teen on the permanence of information on the Internet and the ramifications of negative posts and photos that could follow a lifetime.
• Know the signs of dating violence for both the victim and abuser, which can include changes in mood, school work, sleeping habits and social life.
• Inform your child of the potential dangers of allowing other peers and individuals access to their devices.  Set up passwords on all smartphones and laptops in case they land in the wrong hands.
• Notify teachers if you suspect your teen is in a violent relationship. Teachers are among the first to notice important changes in behavior, and it's possible their partner may be another student.
• Stay in tune with your teen's online and mobile phone activity. Consider implementing parental monitoring software on all home computers and teens' smartphones to check for inappropriate activity.

While each of these tips can be very helpful in their own right, the most comprehensive, proven way to protect your teen from online abuse is the use of monitoring tools for PCs and smartphones that can be monitored remotely. For more information visit:  www.webwatchernow.com.  

About Awareness Technologies
As the pioneer in remote monitoring, Awareness Technologies (www.webwatchernow.com) has set the standard for computer and cell phone monitoring software both from a feature set perspective and from an ease-of-use perspective. Its WebWatcher solution is the leading computer monitoring software and its keystroke logger outperforms all other keylogger monitoring software programs on the market. Awareness Technologies has over 250,000 users and was named on Deloitte's 2008 Technology Fast 500 ranking.

SOURCE Awareness Technologies