Internet Safety: A Learning Experience They Will Never Forget
"Supervision" takes on an entirely new meaning with today's tech-savvy youth. Many parents believe that simply placing the computer in a well-traveled part of the house is a form of supervision. This is a smart first step, but we need to know that students everywhere confess to hiding online behavior with an adult sitting a few feet away in the same room. In a video produced by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, a young girl demonstrates how easy it is to conceal online activities with her dad in the same room.
As caregivers, community leaders or educators, this should prompt us to ask some difficult questions.
- How can we educate our children on the important issues surrounding safe and ethical use of technology resources if we don't know what the real issues are because they are hidden from us?
- How can we fine-tune a child's online behavior if we do not know what the real behavior is?
- How can we intervene in a dangerous situation if we have no idea that our children are in danger?
We like to think that we know what our children are doing and viewing online, but do we really know? Teens and pre-teens from all over the world are especially delighted to report that we have NO idea what they are doing online or with mobile electronics, like camera phones and iPods. In their own words, students from North Carolina explain why an overwhelming majority of kids conceal online behavior.
The Internet, along with all of its wonderful information resources, also houses a perverse, twisted environment of social deviants who truly do not care about our children. Monetary profit is their only concern. Our children are not at the developmental stages in life (physically or emotionally) where they have the experience or the emotional self-discipline to know how to resist the sophisticated techniques of predators and the media.
It is our responsibility to protect them.
 (A simple, but powerful approach) |
 (Advice straight from the hearts of teens and preteens) |
Newsweek Reports "...kids aren't telling."