{"id":223,"date":"2010-09-09T20:14:20","date_gmt":"2010-09-10T04:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/internetsafety.trendmicro.com\/?p=223"},"modified":"2010-09-09T20:19:22","modified_gmt":"2010-09-10T04:19:22","slug":"internet-safety-whos-teaching-our-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/blog\/internet-safety-whos-teaching-our-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Internet safety: Who’s teaching our kids?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong><\/a>By Lynette T. Owens<\/p>\n

Over the past year, Internet safety for kids seems to have risen moderately in importance among the general public.\u00a0 It is harder for me now than a year ago to meet a parent or teacher that doesn\u2019t have a story to tell about their school, where some kids may have gotten onto the Internet and into trouble.\u00a0 And over the last year, the media seems to have helped propel some of the issues (particularly cyberbullying) to the fore.\u00a0 But while this may be the trend, Internet safety education still seems to hover in the middle of the to-do-list for parents and schools.<\/p>\n

The Pew Research center reports that 73% of teens use social networking sites and 75% of them own a cell phone (in the U.S.).\u00a0 Using the Internet is an important life skill, so simply ignoring the issues or denying kids\u2019 access to the Internet is not an option.\u00a0 We clearly need to be providing education to our kids on how to be safe, responsible citizens online.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But who is supposed to do it?\u00a0 Parents?\u00a0 Schools?\u00a0 The technology industry?\u00a0 The government or law enforcement?\u00a0 There are many initiatives aimed towards teaching kids to be safe online \u2013 from all of these groups.\u00a0 But these efforts are for the most part disconnected and the messages sometimes inconsistent.\u00a0 So if there were one party responsible, who would it be?<\/p>\n

Therein lies the challenge.\u00a0 Because internet safety for kids encompasses such a vast array of issues \u2013 from cyberbullying to identity theft to plagiarism \u2013 it is difficult for a single group to become deeply expert in it and to take on the sole responsibility of educating our kids.<\/p>\n

Frankly, I believe that no one party is responsible.\u00a0 It absolutely must be a collective effort.\u00a0 Kids are learning to use the Internet for various purposes and have access to it through different devices and in different places, so we all have a role in teaching them to use it safely.<\/p>\n

The ideal situation?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Parents\/guardians should be the ones to first introduce kids to the Internet.<\/strong>\u00a0 They would guide their kids on how to technically use it, but also how to be good, safe citizens of it.\u00a0 They should consider how and when their kids access the Internet as they age \u2013 through a cell phone, personal laptop, at a friend\u2019s house, through an iPod touch or video game console.\u00a0 They don\u2019t need to become expert in all things Internet safety all at once, but focus on the relevant sites and devices their kids are using through various times of their life. (Surfing websites from a home PC, texting on a cell phone, social networking on their own laptop\/cell phone.)<\/li>\n
  2. Schools should provide internet safety education.<\/strong>\u00a0 This would begin around age 8 or 9 when kids are using the Internet more heavily for school and when many of them may be on the verge of getting a cell phone.\u00a0 As kids near their teen years, some newer issues will need to be addressed such as using social networking sites, cyberbullying, sexting, etc.\u00a0 Kids would need to understand the rules for using the internet both on school property and with their classmates as well as being safe when they use the Internet anywhere and with anyone.<\/li>\n
  3. Schools and parents together should try to institute parent education<\/strong> via a parent-teacher organization forum (PTO, PTA, PTSO, home-school association, etc.).\u00a0 Teachers should make parents aware when computers, specifically Internet-connected devices, will be introduced to kids during school and for what purpose. \u00a0Both groups should discuss where the boundaries are in terms of disciplinary action when students violate Internet use policies, in or out of school.\u00a0 It should be very clear what, when, how, and who will take on any necessary disciplinary action.<\/li>\n
  4. School technology departments should employ the appropriate infrastructure to keep kids safe online<\/strong> while using school equipment or while on school property.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They should develop acceptable use policies that reflect a broad range of internet safety issues (such as bullying, etc.).\u00a0 This would require a true collaboration between the school\u2019s IT department, the administration, and parents.\u00a0 Student information \u2013 like anyone\u2019s personal information \u2013 could be at risk of theft or misuse. \u00a0So IT departments should be using technology that can best keep this information secure from those who may be trying to take advantage of students.<\/li>\n
  5. Older kids should mentor younger students.<\/strong>\u00a0 This is already done in many schools to encourage the development of literacy skills.\u00a0\u00a0 During her kindergarten year, my daughter was happily paired with a 4th<\/sup> grade reading buddy.\u00a0 In an ideal situation, schools would do the same to encourage digital literacy.<\/li>\n
  6. Technology companies should consider kids safety from the beginning.<\/strong>\u00a0 Many organizations can impact kids\u2019 online safety – from the services that kids use online (social networks, gaming sites, entertainment sites for viewing, listening to or downloading things) to the way kids get connected to those services (laptop, cell phone, video game console, etc.)\u00a0 The consideration of kids\u2019 safety is happening to some\/varying degree among technology companies, through self-governance, pressure from advocacy groups, and government regulation.\u00a0 But I think as parents and teachers become increasingly educated about the issues, it is in these companies\u2019 best interest to consider kids’ online safety in the early stages of product development.\u00a0 They risk being labeled \u2018unsafe\u2019 (or at the very least, \u2018uncaring\u2019) otherwise.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This list is certainly not comprehensive, and most of these things are already happening in isolation.\u00a0 However, it is not yet a common occurrence to see them happening in concert.\u00a0 Communities of parents and schools need to first recognize that everyone is responsible for teaching kids Internet safety.\u00a0 Only then can we be sure we are raising a wiser, safer generation online.<\/p>\n

    For free Internet safety tips and tools, go to www.trendmicro.com\/go\/safety<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Over the past year, Internet safety for kids seems to have risen moderately in importance among the general public. It is harder for me now than a year ago to meet a parent or teacher that doesn\u2019t have a story to tell about their school, where some kids may have gotten onto the Internet and into trouble. We clearly need to be providing education to our kids on how to be safe, responsible citizens online. <\/p>\n

    But who is supposed to do it? Parents? Schools? The technology industry? The government or law enforcement? There are many initiatives aimed towards teaching kids to be safe online but they are disconnected. So if there were one party responsible, who would it be?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[15,13,7,8,6,5,11,10,9,14,12],"class_list":["post-223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-parents","category-for-teachers","tag-acceptable-use-policy","tag-cell-phones","tag-cyberbullying","tag-digital-citizenship","tag-education","tag-internet-safety","tag-kids","tag-online-safety","tag-ptopta","tag-sexting","tag-social-networking","wpautop"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}