Web Dropin #1: Staying Safe on the Internet

Ashley S. Moss-Pham

Introduction The Internet can be a wonderful resource for both educational and recreational purposes. However, it can also be a place fraught with perils and pitfalls for the unwise or uninformed. This web dropin is intended to teach you about the major sources of danger involving Internet use, and to help you become a wise and savvy traveler along the information superhighway.

Reading Activity You will be visiting two excellent and comprehensive websites on Internet safety that include resources for teens as well as adults. However, instead of reading only the sections directed to teens, you will be directed to read some sections aimed toward adults (in this case, parents). Here is why: while the sections written for teens address some of the important issues teens need to be conscious of when surfing the net, they do not go into sufficient detail (especially as regards the reasons for doing/ not doing certain things on the internet), whereas the sections written for adults do.* That said, I want you to visit the websites below and read/review the information accessible from the following links:

Website Safety Ed International

http://www.safetyed.org/

In the paragraph about Internet Safety Education, click on the link for Parents. Once inside the parents’ section, click on the link Kids in Cyberspace and the link for Parent/Child Agreement.

Kids in Cyberspace [From site] This is another SafetyEd page that offers some great advice on Online Romances, Internet Addiction, Internet Gangs, Child Predators, and Child Pornography. It gives you tips to teach your children on how to look out for online predators and offers safety tips.

Parent/Child Agreement [From site]: Before your child goes online it is a very good idea to make a written agreement with them. This agreement is a very good example of what terms you might include. Read it and discuss it together, then both sign it, and post a copy up by the computer. You will notice that when a child goes online, it is not only the child that has to promise things!

Also, click on the link for Teens in the paragraph about Internet Safety Education (homepage), and then the link Live Chat Cyber Street Smarts and read this section for teens. Here is the description of that section from the site:

“The Internet is an absolutely incredible place. You can do anything, be anyone, meet anyone, or find out anything. You can make great friends, have parties, do your school homework, just hang out or whatever! But don't let the fact that it is a wonderful place to work, play and study make you blind to its dark side. In many respects the Internet resembles a giant city. And just like in a city, it has its minority of lame idiots, troublemakers, predators and danger zones. The Internet population comes in all shapes and sizes. Most are good people. Some are not.”

GetNetWise: About Kids’ Safety

http://kids.getnetwise.org/trouble/

This is a very well-organized and useful site for parents and kids to help them learn about Internet safety. In sidebars to the left of the homepage, there are links to help you 1) select safety issues by age range; 2) identify all types of risks; and 3) identify risks according to the type of technology being used. While the language is directed to the parents of internet users who are still minors, this website can be a very useful source of information on internet safety for teens as well.

Follow-up Activity After reviewing all of this information, write up a 10-15 point parent-child internet use agreement that you think is both sensible and fair in light of the internet dangers you have learned about – one you would actually be willing to sign and uphold. As you are writing your ten point Parent/Child Internet Use Agreement, keep in mind the different categories of danger you have read about: predators; addiction; gangs; online romances, and inappropriate adult material or sites. We will be sharing and discussing the agreements you have constructed later in the semester in an effort to collectively generate the best, most teen-friendly (but safe) Parent/Child Internet Use Agreement ever!!!

* Note to Students & Parents: I have carefully reviewed the sections of Safety Ed International and the contents of GetNetWise written for an older audience to make certain that neither contains material that is inappropriate for teenagers for read. Neither contains such information; the chief difference between these sections and those written for kids is in the level of detail included.