Chandell Asuncion

Students of the 21^st Century will need to acquire a strong set of ethics, values, communication, and collaboration skills that allow them to prosper in a global economy. For these students the Internet is an essential part of their lives that must be closely supervised.

The Cyber Safety and Ethics Initiative (CSEI) http://www.rrcsei.org/research.html reports that children have unsupervised access to a computer and the internet at home as early as age 5, and that by age 7, 15% report that someone was mean to them online, while 7% admit they have been mean to someone online. We are seeing the onset of cyber bullying beginning in the second grade and it’s not always the adult predator. Reports show that 45% of the cases are friends victimizing friends.

One in three children ages 9-12 report they have committed some type of online deception, abuse or crime. They have posted personal information about themselves online, which might include their first and last name, their age, photos of themselves, where they go to school, the names of their parents, teachers and friends, where they hang out, and what teams they play on. Furthermore 23.2% admit to lying about their age online.

Reports also show that 1 in 4 children between the ages 9-18 report that they have been victimized online by one or more forms of abuse within the past school year that was not reported to a grown up.

During the past school year has someone…
1. used your password without your knowledge………..………11.9%
2. embarrassed you online………………………………………..10.3%
3. bullied or threatened you online…………………………….…..6.9%
4. requested pictures of you without clothes…………………….1.0%
5. showed you pictures of themselves without clothes…………2.3%
6. asked private things about your body…………………….…….1.5%
7. told you private things about their body…………………..….…2.3%

Five rules to keep your children safe online
1. Don’t post personal information and photos of yourself
2. People may not be who they say they are
3. Don’t open attachments from strangers
4. Tell an adult you trust if something online makes you feel uncomfortable
5. Meeting online strangers alone is dangerous

Provide your children an opportunity to share their online experiences with you by discussing what they are doing online.