When I was in high school my parents didn't talk much about the dangers of the internet. Once I think they saw something on the news and said "don't meet boys from the internet" and them promptly forgot the internet existed. We didn't have a computer in our home, only one (yes 1) of my friends did, kids never had cell phones and the few adults who did definitely never had a web browser on them. the need to teach internet and technology safety didn't exist for my parents. Lucky damn bastards
The technology that did exist I used against my parents every chance I got. My parents saw caller ID was a way to verify that I really was calling from my best friends house, it took my friends and I 5 minutes to figure out how to defeat caller ID with the aid of three way calling.
So now I have kids and the technology my parents had no need to fear is everywhere. Heck we have a computer in our dining room! In two years when my eldest hits grade 6 he will be given a laptop by the school. How the hell do I control his internet presence when the damn school gives him a computer? OK sure they can't access facebook on the school computers but you can get in plenty of trouble without facebook. Heck I remember going to my friends house (you remember me talking about that one girl that had a home computer) and playing on ICQ. In hindsight it was just sheer luck that we were not raped and murdered. Oh my god, we would be sitting there at 3 am talking to random internet guys while her parents snored away in the next room. Internet safety was something we taught each other.
How do I keep my kids from endangering themselves? Yes we have talked about not disclosing personal information with strangers, but how do I know he is listening? Right now he is ten and I have manged to convince him I am more computer savvy than I actually am. For example we have a rule. If you delete the computer history you loose all electronic privileges for month. That,s a great rule ... if I knew how to access my computer history. My husband does but I don't.
I am a technotard. I know just enough to grasp all the dangers and pitfalls but not enough to ensure my kid stays away from them. So with that said does anyone have any suggestions?
All suggestions are to be made in plain English. Any and all suggestions made in tech talk will result in the commenter being called extremely unflattering names.
Well first of all, make no mistake about it, kids are smarter today than when we were kids. I start off saying this because you found a way to beat the caller id, yet are quick to say the school blocks facebook and the likes.
ReplyDeleteThere are thousands of social networks out their that school don't block, and there are thousands of kids bypassing those blocks. Blocking is not the answer when you don't have the ability to block any longer.
You need to sit with your child at your computer and actively teach them how to use facebook, twitter and perhaps even Google+. Right from the start teach them how the difference in sharing with closed circles, teach them the facebook privacy settings, show them what happens to people who don't use them.
Teach them about people getting arrested for what they post. Teach them about rapists finding people on social media. Right from the start teach them about adding friends, by adding yourself to their contacts.
Let them use social networks knowing mom is always able to see what they say, then explain to them that its not mom they need to worry about. The government is profiling everyone and as they get older, the things they say even innocently can be used against them. Show them about jobs and schools who force people to open their accounts up.
The best way to keep them safe, is to teach them firsthand what social networks are all about.
My eldest does have a G+ account.
ReplyDeleteWell no I have a G+ account with his name on it. He has a few people in his circles and mostly uses it to play backyard monsters and angry birds. I know the passwords, I check it regularly, I also have his email password and scan his junk mail.
Using technology to babysit will never work, but I like the idea of learning how to use it as an additional tool.
I homeschooled my kids on the computer but I never allowed them on when I wasn't in the room even after they got older. The best advice I can give you is to always watch what they're doing and have other parents whose kids they visit with do the same. Maybe suggest it at your next parent teacher conference.
ReplyDeleteAlso don't assume that just because a laptop comes from the school that your kids don't know how to modify it. (After all they have computer classes) It might be time for you to take one too.
You can find a lot of instructional videos online for different windows or mac operations. I was self taught and I was born in the late 50s. I learned most of what I know about computers from hacking into my old ones. Just trial and error..(mostly error)
I wouldn't suggest doing that, but there are certainly a lot more tutorials than when I was online. A good place to start would be Googling the site The Newbie Club. They have instructional videos for a really good price and some are just shipping and handling.