I recently read a Facebook entry by one of my “tween” relatives that disturbed me. She probably thought it was an innocent remark but to a predator it could have been interpreted differently. I wanted to find the right words to convey what I thought and provide some good education resources for her and her mom. In surfing the web, I found a website with some interesting statistics:
Did you know that..?
- 26% of children report having a public social networking profile.
- Children of all ages are lacking digital skills –confidence is often not matched by skill!
- 12% of 9-16 year olds say they have been bothered or upset by something on the internet… however, 56% of parents whose child has received nasty or hurtful messages online are not aware of this.
- One in eight parents don’t seem to mediate their children’s online activities…while 56% of parents take positive steps such as suggesting to their children how to behave towards others online.
- 44% of children think that parental mediation limits what they do online, 11 per cent say it limits their activities a lot.
A Parents' Guide to Facebook a soup-to-nuts guide to Facebook privacy settings, profile settings, group settings. http://bit.ly/90P9P3
NetSmartz Workshop is an interactive, educational program of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) that provides age-appropriate resources to help teach children how to be safer on- and offline. The program is designed for children ages 5-17, parents and guardians, educators, and law enforcement.
http://www.netsmartz.org/Parents
PBS Kids offers the Webonauts Academy in which elementary school students can learn about safe online behaviors. http://pbskids.org/webonauts/
Through the Wild Web Woods games teach children about potential dangers online and how to avoid them. http://www.wildwebwoods.org/popup_langSelection.php
