Safer Internet Day 2012
Safer Internet Day 2012 (SID2012) serves as great opportunity to remind ourselves of the need to exercise a bit of caution as we traverse the wired side of life. What impresses me the most is the multi-lingual, multi-topic approach taken to spread the message of how to stay safe online. For example, on You Tube there are over 30 videos dedicated to the day. The official video can be found here. But my favorite is this one featuring two boys surfing the internet and what they encounter and it can be found here.
I found the following factoids of interest and know you will too, all shared at the Safer Internet Day website – which can be found here.
Did you know that..?
- 26 per cent 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 per cent of European 9-16 year olds say they have been bothered or upset by something on the internet…
- …however, 56 per cent 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 per cent of parents take positive steps such as suggesting to their children how to behave towards others online.
- 44 per cent of children think that parental mediation limits what they do online, 11 per cent say it limits their activities a lot.
Helping each other stay safe online:
- Teachers’ engagement with children’s internet use is least among 9-10 year olds.
- 36 per cent of 9-16 year olds claim that they definitely know more about the internet than their parents.
- 73 per cent of children say their peers have helped or supported their internet use.
- 44 per cent of children claim to have received some guidance on safe internet use from their friends, and 35 per cent say that they have also provided such advice to their friends.
- Yet, children say they receive most online safety advice from parents (63 per cent), then teachers (58 per cent), other relatives (47 per cent), then peers (44 per cent).
- Parents get internet safety advice first and foremost from family and friends (48 per cent).
- 87 per cent of children use the internet at home.
So let us collectively dig in and help make the internet safer, not only on Safer Internet Day, but everyday.
There are more and more vulnerabilities in the Internet and a safer one is certainly needed, I think!
Bullying is incredibly prevalent and under reported. Parents need to get more involved.
Number one…yay! It is good to see your site all nice and healthy and now I can dig in and catch up on reading 🙂
O.K…..
I can’t argue with the statistics, they are what they are and will probably be even more alarming in the next 6 months.
I have been doing a lot of reading and I came across to different articles and if you will be patient I will get to my point.
The one article was lamenting that kids these days would rather have a new “smart phone” rather than getting a drivers licence and the other article lamented that kids would rather be on a computer than going out and mingling with friends.
I myself have seen kids as young as 3 and 4 yrs of age being given smart phones to play with ( boy do they pick up how to work it fast) and I have seen kids as young as 8 -9-10 yrs of age being on Facebook ( usually with parental permission but many times not) and I sit here shaking my head!
The fact is and yes it is my opinion, kids are now being “born” on the web and it reminds me of how it used to be back in the 50’s where we told kids..be careful, be home by a certain time, but underneath we had this innocence. Oh we knew things could happen …bad things, but never to our kids and never in our neighborhood.
In many ways this is how parents are acting today..giving just enough info to the kids, but not enough to stop the danger.
What is even worse is the kids themselves who when told how to be careful, usually go , I’don’t care attitude and I know more than you thinking and they literally tune us ( the adults) out.
As you said in your last comment ” we need to address Bullying well before the hands arrive at the keyboard”, which mean we need to start teaching kids when they are preschool age, via interactive learning, games and what not…
I have no answers, but I do know that I will continue to do my best to reach kids, teach safety in whatever means and resources I can find that will “work”. It is an uphill battle in some ways, but I will not give up!
I am very disturbed by the tremendous amount of bullying on a website called Topix.com. Our paper has ran a story about them and when I examined the site I was appalled by it. It is horrible and something needs to be done about the lack of rules they have there.
In my opinion, we need to address Bullying well before the hands arrive at the keyboard, and thus render such sites as obsolete and of little interest.