The Internet contains an infinite number of resources and possibilities. This connectivity creates many wonderful opportunities for kids to explore the world, but unfortunately there is also a darker side to the Internet. Many kids are confronted with content and people they might not otherwise be exposed to. This can be scary. With this in mind, often times parents and schools prefer to lock-down their kids' internet access. Clearly websites exist that should never be accessible by children. However, are we truly preparing our kids to successfully navigate the 21st century if our only reaction to online danger is to shield them from it?
I believe it is important to teach kids how to be safe Internet users. Does this mean we remove all safeguards and webpage filters? Of course not. But it does require us (the adults) to acknowledge there is an online world that our children are already, or soon will become, members of. Toward this end, we need to teach kids how to be safe Internet users. Below are 3 tips to promote Internet safety that were taken from a larger article. Much like we teach our kids "stranger danger" when walking home from school, we too must begin to teach our kids about the risks of the online world and how to be safe in it. I encourage you to think about how you can incorporate Internet safety in your classroom, and also how you can bring parents into this education process as well.
3 Tips to Promoting Internet Safety
1) Get Parents Involved
This should not be surprising. When parents are actively talking with their children about online safety, students are less apt to partake in risky virtual behavior. The real challenge for educators is ensuring that all parents know how to have these conversations with their kids. Some tips for parents can include:
i. Determine
an appropriate age to let children have an online identity. Should a 13 year old have a Facebook
account? This is clearly a judgment call
that different parents will evaluate differently. However, educators can “prime the pump” to
get parents to start thinking about what boundaries they want to set for their
household.
ii. Parents
can help their children identify proper online chat boundaries. What type of information should kids share
virtually? Who should they be talking
to? What levels of privacy can kids
expect and protect while interacting online?
Once again, these answers will vary from parent to parent, but educators
can help start the conversation.
iii. Set
an “Online Curfew” for kids. What time
of night should kids no longer be connected to social media conversing with
friends. Parents often times limit
telephone talk, why not extend this to online use too?
iv. Monitor
kids online activity. Some parents ask
that their children “friend” them on Facebook so that they can see the type of
people and interactions their children are having. Another tactic can be to check the computer’s
internet browsing history or cookies.
v. Finally,
and most importantly, encourage parents to talk to their children about their
online behavior. What do they feel is
appropriate? Why? Are there some
assumptions made by child or adult that are not accurate? Open dialogue can help establish trust and
hopefully eliminate potential problems before they even exist.
2) Find alternate ways to engage students with Internet Safety
Unfortunately for parents and teachers alike, students often
times “zone out” anytime an adult starts to talk about something that isn’t
necessarily interesting. Insert the
incessant blabbering of Charlie Brown’s teacher “Blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah”. No matter the good intentions,
the fact is kids don’t always listen. To
help counter this find resources that allow students to explore online safety
without adults. The easiest way is to find some quick YouTube videos.
There are a plethora out there, but here a few to get you started:
Video 1: Internet Safety for Kids K-3
Video 2: Playing and Staying Safe Online
Video 3: Safe Web Surfing: Top Tips for Kids and Teens Online
3) Role play!
Create real life scenarios, or in text-speak IRL (In Real
Life), that allow kids to explore possibilities they might be confronted with
while online. Let kids work out the
situations on their own and see what kind of solutions they come up with. Often times the findings might be
surprising! Here is a generic scenario to use as an example, but be creative and come up with some on your own too.
Elaine and her best friend Tina share everything. They swap lunch treats, share clothes, and
even deep secrets. While most of their
sharing is perfectly acceptable, one secret they also shared with one another
was their Facebook passwords. One day,
Elaine and Tina had an argument and when Elaine got home she noticed her status
updates had some less than flattering comments. She knew she didn’t say these things but everyone else thinks so. What can Elaine
do? What should she have done
differently do prevent this kind of “identity theft”? How important are usernames and passwords and
why should we not share them with anyone, even our best friends?
This is really helpful! I also ask my teachers to have their students positioned so the teachers can see as many screens as possible in their classrooms. It is just another check.
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