Online dating and social networking sites are a hub for the electronic and Internet savvy generation.

The ease of meeting and talking to people online from the comfort of your home, where you can share your thoughts and interests in a completely anonymous fashion, can be a real icebreaker for some users.

And while there’s definitely a lot of perks to socializing online, there are inherent risks that go hand-in-hand with the Internet. Police, safety groups, school boards and the like preach about such risks and horror stories associated with online dating regularly, but sometimes it’s not until such disturbing incidents happen in our own backyards that we really begin to take notice.

Such is the case of a Toronto woman allegedly held against her will and driven to Caledon last week where she was sexually assaulted. She met the accused online, and he picked her up in his vehicle from her Toronto home.

The woman was able to escape only after police said the man’s vehicle slowed down in traffic at Airport Road and Olde Base Line Road, where the woman was able to jump out of the moving vehicle. A 24-year-old?Toronto man is facing a slew of charges.

This particular incident is disturbing, shocking, frightening and sad, and it’s something we need to share with our children in order to inform them of the real life dangers using the Internet for socializing can pose. Tales of the dark side of the web are no longer just stories, rumour or innuendo, but fact, and we learn that dreamy first dates can and do turn into nightmares.

You never really know who you’re talking to while typing away on your keyboard, which is why protecting yourself and taking proper precautions before meeting someone in person must be practiced.

We’re never too old or too young to learn about the dangers of the Internet, or ways we can protect ourselves.

Starting next year, local elementary students will be even more prepared to protect themselves online now that the Province has approved new curriculum.

In the fall, specific Internet programs for Grades 4 and 7 will introduce students to potential risks of online activities, and perhaps protect them from experiencing similar nightmares in their futures.