The Internet and other forms of technology are becoming an increasingly important part of our daily lives, a trend that will only continue to grow. For this reason, it is crucial to teach your kids how to use such technology safely and appropriately. If used in the right ways, the Internet can actually be quite beneficial to education and provide many tools for learning.
Parents often fret over the horror stories they've heard about kids and the Internet, but so many of these worries can be eased by simply teaching children acceptable Internet usage.
Many schools are incorporating Internet safety education into their curriculum, but don't rely solely on that for teaching your children how to use the Internet. In addition to school education it's important to monitor and inform when allowing your child to use the computer and other technology.
Jerry Crystal, the technology coordinator at Carmen Arace Middle School in Bloomfield, Connecticut, is taking steps to increase Internet awareness and safety that exceed simply having a block on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Every teacher at the school is informed and educated about the uses of technology and incorporates it into daily lessons. In addition to that each student is issued his or her own laptop and taught how to appropriately use it. Crystal also feels that it is important to create awareness about the negative outcomes of things such as cyber bullying, sexting, downloading bootlegged music, and sites that can introduce viruses into computers.
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It is critical that parents understand that even if they just ban the use of Facebook and Twitter, their children are probably going to use it anyway. So instead of having your child sneak around behind your back, potentially opening up even more doors for inappropriate Internet usage, try to create an environment where your children feel comfortable talking to you about what it is they are up to online and stay involved in their Internet activity.
For younger children, it is likely that most approaches will not be understood or accepted, as their perceived possibilities will never encompass anything harmful, just a lot of fun and games. You can check Magic Desktop as means of introducing children gradually to the concept of using the computer in a responsible way, with discipline and care. From experience, I feel this approach is a lot nicer and buys us parents some time to prepare them adequately.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Oboru Sensie. Fun and games is how the younger kids perceive the world. Giving them the capability of accessing the web will expose them to online predators’. Kids are easily hooked by online games and that is why online predators make use of online games as their luring candy to exploit a child. Internet is not safe even for adults. There is always a chance that you’ll get scammed or attacked with malwares and these facts are way beyond your child’s league. With the development of mobile devices that permits access to the web, the risk was even doubled. So it is very important that parents filter these devices. Young lads are now equipped with sophisticated mobile device that I think inappropriate for their age. Communication and social life is important for the child’s development, but the risk can be lessened by gauging the capability of the child in handling such device. Simple phones like Just5 Easyphone is best suited for kids and such a phone does not allow any internet access, yet it can be used for its sole purpose of communicating with your child and keeping them safe.
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