{"id":581,"date":"2012-09-14T08:04:26","date_gmt":"2012-09-14T16:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/internetsafety.trendmicro.com\/?p=581"},"modified":"2012-09-14T08:04:26","modified_gmt":"2012-09-14T16:04:26","slug":"make-a-new-school-year-resolution-get-into-digital-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/blog\/make-a-new-school-year-resolution-get-into-digital-shape\/","title":{"rendered":"Make a New (School) Year Resolution: Get Into Digital Shape"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/internet-safety\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/LynetteOwens_Trend_bw_edit.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-583\" title=\"LynetteOwens_Trend_bw_edit\" src=\"\/internet-safety\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/LynetteOwens_Trend_bw_edit-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>By Lynette Owens<\/p>\n<p>Every January 1, I make a list of personal goals for the coming year. Year after year, 80% of the items on each year\u2019s list are the same.\u00a0 Meaning: I\u2019m pretty bad about keeping New Year\u2019s resolutions.<\/p>\n<p>But unlike the calendar year, the start of a new school year is an entirely different experience for my family.\u00a0 Whether by necessity or the search for sanity, our summer habits end and new habits begin.\u00a0 And stay.\u00a0 It\u2019s a far more successful endeavor on September 1 then on January 1.<\/p>\n<p>The start of a new school year is\u00a0a great time to take advantage of this motivation and add a new resolution to your family\u2019s list: Get into digital shape.<\/p>\n<p>With no homework or school activities on their schedules, kids sometimes filled this time with screen time over the summer \u2013 watching t.v. or movies, playing iPad apps or video games, etc.\u00a0 In our house, we did our best to balance it with lots of swimming and other sports as well as with reading good old fashioned books. \u00a0But my kids definitely have more time with screens in the summer than other times of year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If this sounds like your family, here are 3 things you can do to get into digital shape this school year:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Change your digital diet.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">1. Balance fun with learning.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">If you\u2019re like my family, the time we spent with digital devices was primarily for fun this summer.\u00a0 But with the new school year, it may be better to turn that screen time into time that they can both have fun and learn something.\u00a0 Here are some great resources to help you decide how to improve your kids\u2019 media diet:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Movies, t.v. shows, and other media: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.commonsensemedia.org\/\">Common Sense Media<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Video games: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.familyfriendlyvideogames.com\/\">Family Friendly Video Games<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Apps: <a href=\"http:\/\/childrensappreview.blogspot.com\/\">A Matter of App<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">2. Don\u2019t completely eliminate social networks.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Social networks are a great way for your older kids to stay connected \u2013 to relatives, classmates, teachers and schools, sports teams, or other groups they interact with during the school year.\u00a0\u00a0 Many school groups have Facebook pages or Twitter accounts to keep group members up-to-date on meetings, practices, events, etc.\u00a0 For this reason, don\u2019t be quick to completely ban them from your teens\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">If you have a 13-year old that is getting onto social networks for the first time, and you want to make sure they\u00a0(and you)\u00a0ease into it and learn to use it properly, consider a social network monitoring service such as Trend Micro&#8217;s Online Guardian.\u00a0 Like training wheels on a bike or a learner&#8217;s permit for driving a car, it&#8217;s a great way to teach them\u00a0the rules of the social networking roads until you feel they are ready to handle it on their own.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">3. Be smart with smart phones.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Texting is another thing on your kids\u2019 digital diet that may need to change during the school year.\u00a0 While they may have done tons of it over the summer break, it\u2019s best to keep it to a minimum when they\u2019re at school, doing schoolwork, and never during class time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Exercise good digital habits.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">1. Make sure schoolwork is the priority.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">It is unrealistic to completely eliminate any time with a screen during the school year.\u00a0 Kids, especially as they get older, are required to get assignments, do research, and actually do their homework online.\u00a0 So instead of saying \u201cno screen time until homework is done\u201d, set rules and places in your home which help support them to make schoolwork a priority.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Ideally, their time with the Internet for schoolwork is done in a common area of the house where you can check in once in a while, but if not, you might consider software that can limit distractions and filter the types of websites they can access while they are doing homework.\u00a0 This type of filtering can typically be done with most of the major security software products (including Trend Micro Titanium).<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">2. Reward good behaviors.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Once homework is done, you can reward the accomplishment\u00a0by allowing them to have some fun on digital devices.\u00a0 But make sure screen-time is limited \u2013 any time of year.\u00a0 The Center on Media and Child Health has great recommendations on time limits and how to manage them with kids <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmch.tv\/mentors_parents\/tips_time_limits.asp\">http:\/\/www.cmch.tv\/mentors_parents\/tips_time_limits.asp<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Continue the conversation about safe and responsible technology use.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is a bigger, on-going undertaking, but it\u2019s important to help kids develop and practice good digital habits all year round and to start this at as young an age as possible.\u00a0 It\u2019s a conversation about being a good digital citizen.\u00a0 This includes helping them build and practice digital skills around\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>their safety and privacy<\/li>\n<li>the security of their online information<\/li>\n<li>ethical and legal issues<\/li>\n<li>proper behavior in online communities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Making a commitment to get you and your kids into digital shape is a great way to start the new school year.\u00a0 But unlike the new year\u2019s resolutions we make and perhaps never keep, this is one that should be made now and kept for as long as we possibly can.<\/p>\n<p>Below are some great resources on more specific topics, such as digital devices or applications, to get you started:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/internet-safety\/wp-admin\/internetsafety.trendmicro.com\">Internet Safety for Kids and Families Trend Micro<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.commonsensemedia.org\/advice-for-parents\/digital-citizenship\">Common Sense Media<\/a> &#8211; resources on Digital Citizenship<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.connectsafely.org\/safety-tips-and-advice.html\">Connectsafely.org<\/a> &#8211; General Online Safety Tips<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ikeepsafe.org\/be-a-pro\/\">iKeepSafe.org<\/a> &#8211; BEaPRO resources on Digital Citizenship<\/p>\n<p><em>Lynette Owens is Director of Trend Micro\u2019s Internet Safety for Kids and Families (ISKF) program.\u00a0 After many years in marketing roles and serving for 6 years as Associate VP of corporate marketing for Trend Micro, Lynette founded the ISKF program to help deliver on the company\u2019s vision of making a world safe for the exchange of digital information. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>As a pro-technology parent and Internet safety advocate, Lynette spends most of her time raising awareness and educating the public about the safe and responsible use of the Internet, recruiting fellow employee volunteers to get involved around the world, or volunteering her own time in her community.\u00a0 For more on Lynette see: <a href=\"\/internet-safety\/our-bloggers\/\">\/internet-safety\/our-bloggers\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Or follow Lynette on Twitter @lynettetowens <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every January 1, I make a list of personal goals for the coming year. Year after year, 80% of the items on each year\u2019s list are the same.  Meaning: I\u2019m pretty bad about keeping New Year\u2019s resolutions.<\/p>\n<p>But unlike the calendar year, the start of a new school year is an entirely different experience for my family.  Whether by necessity or the search for sanity, our summer habits end and new habits begin.  And stay.  It\u2019s a far more successful endeavor on September 1 then on January 1.<\/p>\n<p>The start of a new school year is a great time to take advantage of this motivation and add a new resolution to your family\u2019s list: Get into digital shape.<\/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":[],"tags":[13,7,8,47,6,5,48,25,10,57,14,12],"class_list":["post-581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-cell-phones","tag-cyberbullying","tag-digital-citizenship","tag-digital-literacy","tag-education","tag-internet-safety","tag-media-literacy","tag-online-privacy","tag-online-safety","tag-parents","tag-sexting","tag-social-networking","wpautop"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581","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=581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}