Teens Wising Up About Online Activities?

With social networking sites the main online communication vehicle for teens, every status update, tweet, or wall post lives forever on the Web, but sometimes, teens say, they reveal a little too much.

A Common Sense Media national poll of 13 to 18 year olds found 39 percent of teens surveyed say they have regrets about some of their online activities. And 29 percent said they've shared information online they wouldn't normally share in public.

Rebecca Randall of Common Sense Media told CBS News, "Anonymity opens the door wide for kids not to take responsibility for their online actions."

The poll also found 25 percent of teens admit to creating a profile with a false identity.

And where are the parents?

The survey indicated they are often out of the loop. Only four percent of parents think their kids check Facebook 10 times a day, whereas 22 percent of teens actually do.

However, on "The Early Show" Monday, child and adolescent psychologist Jennifer Hartstein shared tips for parents with teens to bring them up to speed with the online culture.

Kids are becoming more and more aware of the impact of social networking and the Internet on their lives, both positive and negative, according to Hartstein. She said teens are able to try things out online, explore their ego, and connect with others in wonderful ways.

In contrast, as with many things, she said, they don't always recognize the limits they need to respect, which leads them to post things they may regret. The anonymity they have, Hartstein said, may allow for bullying, spying and hostile relationships, which can only create problems.

"Their judgment is not really the best. It's really a shame," she said. "They still put just negative pictures and really incriminating things (online)."

Parents, Hartstein told CBS News are being eclipsed by their children when it comes to computer usage.

"Kids just know more," she said. "Parents need to be more aware and involved."

Hartstein suggested parents keep computers in common areas, ask about the profiles and friends, check histories on Web browsers and find as many teachable moments about responsible Internet use as possible.

Once the information is out there, there is no taking it back, Hartstein warned.

"...Anonymous is never anonymous," she said, "Face to face is now face to cyberspace, and we need to teach kids that the same relationship rules apply."

Hartstein also shared these tips for parents with teens:

1. Open your own Facebook (or other social network) profile, so you can understand what your kids are doing on it. Play around with it and notice who finds you. Learn what you can keep private and what goes out in public and use this as teachable information for your kids.

2. Know who they are communicating with. Check the history of their browser and ask who they are communicating with. Get accepted as a friend on their site, so you can see who they are befriending and track what they are doing.

"You wouldn't send your kids to hang out someplace if you didn't know that kid," said Hartstein. "Why aren't we being more careful with our kids?...We treat our face to face interaction very differently from our face to cyberspace interaction, but they are not really very different."

There are different programs that will allow you to monitor their activity.

3. Set rules. Teach your kids how to behave online. Tell them why it's important to think before they post something on their site. Once it's out there in public, there's no taking it back. They are leaving a digital footprint. Ask them if they would want the entire school to know certain information about them or just a few close friends. Also, teach your kids how to be respectful to other people and talk about what they ramifications can potentially be if they aren't.

"Teach them that a picture of them at the party with a really skimpy dress on is not appropriate to put online...," Hartstein said. "We want them to be aware of what's real, what's not real, and how it can impact them later."

4. Be open about checking on them. Let your teens know you will be checking on what they are doing, just as you would if they were hanging out with them. If they know their parents will be checking up on them, it may prevent them from some irresponsible behavior.

Many parents are afraid their kids will get mad at them if they spy on them, but be open about it. They want to be liked and forget to be parents. The Internet is so far-reaching that you have to know what they are doing.