A concept parents should keep in mind—and teach their children—is that digital content never dies: once material is created and posted, it lives on the Internet, often for anyone to see, now and well into the future. Pictures taken by your teen at a fun party that are then posted to a social networking site, questionable comments made in a tweet, gossip about others published on a blog, all of which seem harmless at the time, can come back to haunt down the road.

Teach your children that they have a digital reputation to maintain and protect. What they may see as fun might be viewed as inappropriate by others. Schools, colleges, potential employers, and others now routinely check Internet sources for information about applicants. Even deleting material may not make it go away entirely. Deleted material can be saved in the files of others only potentially to reappear at a latter time. Make sure your children and teens understand it’s their responsibility to maintain their online reputations and the consequences of not doing so.