Today's kids are practically born with a cell phone or tablet in hand. The modern-day Internet has provided contemporary youth with access to a seemingly endless amount of information. Young people also have the convenient, yet frightening, ability to remain in constant contact with peers and strangers alike.

Modern technology empowers today's youth in many ways, but it can also inflict scars which could last a lifetime. One aspect of youthful online activities, the relinquishing of personal information, has the potential to cause irreversible damage, and should be carefully monitored by parents.

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This article was originally posted on The Huffington Post by Tim Elmore.

In case you're wondering how kids today think, new research enables us to answer that question and see how absolutely different they are from their elders.

According to recent Pew Research, adolescents put technology in the same category as air and water. They feel they need it to live their lives. In fact, they would rather give up their pinky finger than their mobile device. I interpret this to mean they use their smartphone far more than they do their smallest finger. Incredible.

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Do you know how much texting and social networking your teen is doing? You may want to sit up and play closer attention to how your child communicates online – not just looking for “red flags,” but at the overall amount of time they spend doing it.

Researchers from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine found that excessive texters and social networkers were more likely to drink, do drugs, and be sexually active.

According to the study, teens who sent more than 120 texts per school day were:

• 3.5 times more likely to have had sex

• 90% more likely to report four or more sexual partners

• twice as likely to have tried alcohol

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