Safer Online Choices

NS TEens - Making Safer Online Choices

NEW GAME FOR KIDS 8 TO 12 TEACHES THEM HOW TO STAY SAFE ON THE INTERNET

Alexandria, VA – June 14, 2011 – A new game is now available for kids between the ages of 8 and 12 that is not only fun but also teaches them how to stay safer while on the Internet. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) and Sprint (NYSE:S) announced today that in honor of Internet Safety month, the popular child-focused Internet safety website www.NSTeens.org has been expanded to include a new educational game created for the “in-between” tween audience of 8 to 12 year olds. The new game, “Tad’s Profile Panic,” teaches kids about what information should not be included in their online profiles. Players help Tad clean up his messy profile by collecting the information that should be kept private while avoiding others who would dispense Tad’s personal information all over school.
It is estimated that 73% of teens between the ages of 12 to 17 have social networking profiles. Around 86% of teens comment on the pages or walls of their friends’ social networking profiles. The goal of the new game “Tad’s Profile Panic” is to educate kids before they reach their teen years when use of social networking increases.

“Today, children rely more on the Internet than ever before in history. The majority of households today have at least one computer, and we know that most teens access the Internet from multiple locations,” said Ernie Allen, president and CEO of NCMEC. [more at NMCEC]