Friday was a crazy day. Mostly because when I made my travel plans, I didn't quite realize how far Memphis is from Atlanta and had to be in Atlanta at 11 a.m. on Friday, after speaking in Memphis Thursday night (and I was driving, not flying). I was up at 3:30 a.m. and on the road by 4:15. I somehow made it to CNN with 5 minutes to spare. The lovely woman who took me into "makeup," made sure to ask the makeup artist to get me some Visine pronto so I wouldn't look completely stoned on air. The producer and host had been briefed about Totally Wired and my somewhat "contrarian" view to our national obsession with online predators. Even so, they managed to sandwich my interview in between two video segments -- the first was a young woman testifying in congress about her horrible predator encounter, while the second was a father talking about how his daughter somehow became entangled with a predator under his watch. Even the graphic was in scary "Prey for predators?" font. It's a powerful narrative -- and even in spite of extremely refreshing stories like this one about how parents are becoming more comfortable as teens are becoming mre responsible, most mainstream news outlets are reluctant to let go (also note how the article describes teens how teens have moved from MySpace to Facebook).

Today I'm doing a live interview on CNN.com, which I have a feeling will be the polar opposite of how the television segment was set up (I've already spoken at length to the producer). Having worked on web sites for two television networks, part of me just feels like the web teams always just get it more. My husband reminded me that TV is about being sensational while the web is about sharing as much information as possible. Tune in to CNN.com tomorrow between 3 and 3:30 p.m. to see if this is true.

You can get a pretty good sense of how the TV segment went down by reading the following transcript:

WHITFIELD: Are online predators and pedophiles targeting your kids? This week a young woman who was abducted when she was just 13 by a man she met online testified before members of Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALICIA KOZAKIEWICZ, VICTIM OF ABDUCTION: I walked out the front door and found that the boogie man is real, and he lives on the web. I know. I met him on the evening of January 1st, 2002. He came for a 13- year-old girl, for a sex slave. He came for me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A new study reveals 32 percent of teenagers say they have gotten online messages from strangers and 7 percent say the messages scared them, or made them feel pretty uncomfortable.

So is there a predator lurking behind every message? Anastasia Goodstein, author of "Totally Wired", says we shouldn't be worried about what our wired kids are doing online, but it is important to have some kind of idea of what's happening.

Right, Anastasia? So, should we be scared? Should we be nervous about our kids' activity when they are online?

ANASTASIA GOODSTEIN, AUTHOR, "TOTALLY WIRED TEENS": I don't think that you need to be scared. I mean, I think there are definitely predators, there are people without the best intentions for kids online. But the good news is that teens are very savvy. They are online to really hang out and socialize with their friends, most of whom are the same friends that they see all day at school.

WHITFIELD: But then they're also meeting new friends, too.

GOODSTEIN: They are, but it's usually based around interests. So if I'm a teen boy and I'm interested in Volkswagens, I may join the MySpace Volkswagen Group and meet other people who are interested in Volkswagens. But they are really, again, there to be in this virtual mall, hanging out with their friends. They don't want to talk to adults.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, except that's how predators, in disguise -- they're disguising themselves as being -- you know, I'm 13 just like you. And they talk the talk just like the young person online. And that's how they kind of lure them in, and the next thing you know they are meeting and come to find out it's a guy with a rap sheet, as a sexual predator.

GOODSTEIN: Right. Some of them do, but what law enforcement has actually found is that most of the teens that respond to predators are actually teens who have been victimized in the past, who are at risk, who are having issues at home, that are sort of vulnerable and needy and talk back to these guys and develop a relationship with them. And then when they go meet them in person, sometimes they will even say that they have fallen in love with them. And they don't want to press charges.

Most teens ignore these guys. They block, delete them, and what I encourage parents and teens to do is report them.

WHITFIELD: So if you are a parent, your kid is online, A, you need to have a good relationship with your child so they are telling you exactly what kind of conversations they are having. But it also means that perhaps you need to be a bit savvy about how to navigate, what are the websites as well.

Just a couple weeks ago we heard from a Florida father, whose daughter met a sexual predator online. They ended up meeting in person. And then he took her off, you know, and ended up leaving her in Florida, because he heard about reports looking for him. This is what he had to say about not really not being connected with his child when it comes to online activity. Let's listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to tell everyone out there, all the parents, watch your children, folks, OK? My baby was in front of me on her computer, I mean, in front of me, not in her room. It's centrally located. It can be seen from the back porch the house; it can be seen from the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, OK? She didn't act suspicious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. So like we were saying, I mean, at least in his case they were right there. He thought he knew everything, but you also say parents remember when you were a kid. A lot of these kids are doing the same things you did. While you may have used diaries, now today kids are blogging.

GOODSTEIN: Right, right. And that desire they have to stay connected to their friends, again, mostly the same friends that they see all day at school. That's what they are doing on the social networking sites. But they are also the experts. They grew up with this stuff. They intuitively know how to use it, so parents can sit down with them and ask them to show you. Show you -- maybe not even their profile. I mean, you could work up to that.

WHITFIELD: Maybe if they don't volunteer, you need to ask?

GOODSTEIN: Yeah, you need to ask, or you can even say hey, my book club told me we need to get on FaceBook so we can organize a book group, and can you help me make a FaceBook profile? And as they are helping you make that profile, you can ask them about, oh, privacy settings? What are you your privacy settings? Are you aware that not everything can truly be private online?

WHITFIELD: Should parents even limit the amount of time their child is online. Should they say, wait a minute, you only get 15 minutes a day, or is that unrealistic? Dos 30 minutes a day, does it help, restrictions is what I mean.

GOODSTEIN: I heard on the radio actually that Bill Gates has a 10-year-old daughter and he let's her be online 45 minutes after she does her homework a day during the week. And then it goes up to an hour of recreational internet time on the weekend. I don't tell parents exactly how much time. You have to negotiate that within your own relationship. But too much of anything is never a good thing.

WHITFIELD: What just happened to go out and play? Anastasia Goodstein, the book is "Totally Wired," a great guide for parents. Thanks so much.

GOODSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

Posted by anastasia