20. Photo Credits: Creative Commons / Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Slides 1, 15-18: by Gwyneth Jones Slide 2: “awareness walk” from Claudia Snell's photostream Slides 3: & 4: Notice - You Can Sit Here from H4NUM4N's photostream Slide 5: Play at Your Own Risk from sjgadsby's photostream Slides 6 & 7: In-game screenshots - from Teh Energy's photostream Slide 8: In-game screenshots from bowkiller39's photostream Slide 9: Gaia Online offers a "Daily Chance” from Narisa's photostream Slide 10 & 11: Facebook, Inc. Slide 12-13: Family Circle Magazine Article: “Parents don't get the about their teens' 'sexting' habits: survey” Slide 14: Theresa's Happy Feet from Great Beyond's photostream Slide 19: Caution: Watch Your Kids! From sjgadsby's photostream
Notas del editor
A famous quote from Helen Keller said that "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.... Life is either a daring adventure or nothing" Helen Keller, The Open Door -1957 There is no safe, there is only AWARE. Aware of the pitfalls, the dangers, and what your child is doing online. The kids who are at most risk for getting in trouble online are already those who are “at risk” teens…but that’s not to say that we should not have an ongoing conversation about cyber ethics with our teens.
Teens will, on their own, be bombarded with objectionable images and websites. It’s what we teach our teens to do when that happens that count. Do they know strategies for dealing with Internet dangers and how to be ethical users of the web?
Most recent studies show that though 14% of kids would meet offline someone they met online, it’s not likely the be the creepy old man but another kid in their social circle or a “friend of a friend” That friend of a friend problem is greatest when talking about Facebook. We’ll get to that in a few minutes.
Kids don’t chat randomly online in the teen chat rooms of old. But they do chat with people…sometimes strangers… during Massively multiplayer online role-playing games like PSP, PS3, Xbox, Nintendo DS and Wii.
Games like Call of Duty require in-game chat to coordinate maneuvers.
As does the world of Halo
In fact, World of WarCraft requires certain missions to be completed with the coordination of many players and the in-game chat feature. What can be alarming is that most of the female avatars in World of WarCraft are actually guys, so young teen males who might hit on them are sometimes drawn into something that is quite different than what they expect and potentially harmful.
Gaiaonline is a virtual world where people join for the different groups that appeal to their varied interests. Players accumulate clothing and accessories and talk with other people about shared interests.
If your kid has a Facebook and they are under the age of 13….it should be set to private. And not only that, you should know your kids privacy settings and talk about sharing information with their friends, the world and “friends of friends” Friends of friends are not their friend. In fact, most of the cyberbullying that goes on are through friends of friends.
Talk about that what is posted is important. That what they say - even in a privately controlled facebook page- can be copied and pasted and passed around and get them into trouble. They are building their digital footprint right now…ethical internet use is important from day one because what is posted even once is always able to be found. Even when things are taken down, they can be recovered through certain data retrieval websites like the wayback machine. Best rule of thumb, if you wouldn’t want your Mom, Dad, Grandma, Principal, Teacher, or family member to see what you post… don’t post it.
Built in web cams can also be used inapropriately. Through free downloadable software like Skype, ooVoo, or Tok-Box kids can talk to other teens and have live video chats. Sometimes they share too much.. Video chats can also be recorded without them knowing it, uploaded to YouTube and passed all around. Some parents have disabled the WebCam feature on their laptops because of this concern.
According to Family Circle magazine, “Nearly half of all teenagers are sending racy text messages to friends on their cell phones, but their moms and dads don't have a clue, a new online survey shows. “ Family Circle magazine quizzed kids and their parents about their attitudes toward sex and dating. And it shows that parents are not as aware as they think they are about their child's sexual activities. "Rather than having 'the talk' once, parents should be starting an ongoing dialogue with their teens," said Family Circle's health director, Meg Ragland. "Parents also need to educate themselves about what is going on in their teen's world as teens are much more likely to listen if you talk to them about sex in an open and honest way.” There’s also the option of getting the teen a cell pone with no built in camera. Every cell phone provider has a selection of functional but not fancy cell phones. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2009/10/20/2009-10-20_parents_dont_get_the_message_on_teen_sexting_habits_survey.html#ixzz0mDeNMAzi
Have You Checked Your Child's Digital Footprint? “ A digital footprint is the amount of content, whether it be words, photographs, audio, or video, that is traceable back to a given individual. Parts of your digital footprint include photographs uploaded to sites like flikr, blog posts attributed to you on Blogger, video files you uploaded to YouTube, posts you wrote on your friends' Facebook Walls, and posts to your Facebook wall by your friends. Content like this makes up your digital footprint. Two things are most notable about the Digital Footprint - first, like all information on the Internet, it can be permanent; second, more and more of us have begun to actively search out the digital footprint of our peers and are influenced by what we find, both in opinion and in action.” http://knowwheretheygo.org/DigitalFootprint/qa-have-you-checked-your-child-s-digital-footprint/
Have You Checked Your Child's Digital Footprint? “ A digital footprint is the amount of content, whether it be words, photographs, audio, or video, that is traceable back to a given individual. Parts of your digital footprint include photographs uploaded to sites like flikr, blog posts attributed to you on Blogger, video files you uploaded to YouTube, posts you wrote on your friends' Facebook Walls, and posts to your Facebook wall by your friends. Content like this makes up your digital footprint. Two things are most notable about the Digital Footprint - first, like all information on the Internet, it can be permanent; second, more and more of us have begun to actively search out the digital footprint of our peers and are influenced by what we find, both in opinion and in action.” http://knowwheretheygo.org/DigitalFootprint/qa-have-you-checked-your-child-s-digital-footprint/
if you have kids who have laptops and a wireless router, keep the router in your bedroom and disconnect the router (unplug & remove) the power cord at bedtime.
late night texting is also a concern - if this is a problem re-charge family cell phones in YOUR rooms overnight
Kids are really clever… they sometimes set up innocuous “parent pages” that are not their REAL page. Know how to search the history of your kids computer and make sure that ANY social network they belong to is set to private. If you’re very concerned make a requirement that they provide logins and passwords to you for random checks of online correspondence.
It’s all our jobs to keep our kids safe. At home and at school but working together with them and having an open and ongoing dialog is the best thing we can do to ensure our kids "The most effective, reliable, Internet Safety Filter is an Involved, Informed, and Aware Parent and an Educated and Ethical Kid.” Thank you!
It’s all our jobs to keep our kids safe. At home and at school but working together with them and having an open and ongoing dialog is the best thing we can do to ensure our kids "The most effective, reliable, Internet Safety Filter is an Involved, Informed, and Aware Parent and an Educated and Ethical Kid.” Thank you!