Parenting the Net Generation - Full Version

www.media-awareness.ca Vision: To ensure children and youth possess the necessary critical thinking skills and tools to understand and actively engage with media

Parenting the Net Generation Presentation Kids’ Online Activities Safety Issues Online Marketing Credibility of Online Information Strategies for Safe, Wise and Responsible Use

Kids need to bring critical thinking to all information, including: television, movies, video games, music, magazines, advertising and the Internet What is media education and why do y oung people need it?

Young Canadians are a highly-connected generation: half of teens have computers in their bedrooms tweens use the Internet for two hours daily teens use it for three hours one-third of youth play games online two-thirds of girls use the Internet primarily for socializing

The Internet is not another world – it’s just another space where kids live their daily lives Today’s wired kid is a social one, connecting with friends and making new ones Kids who spend more time online are more confident about their social abilities

Friends are always accessible through e-mail, instant messaging, blogs, chat rooms and cell phones Everyone is equal on the Internet: children who are shy can develop relationships with peers online Online communities encourage the development of real-world social skills and values Safety Issues

Most IM software allows kids to block people they don’t know Review contact lists for strangers Use the “Keep a history of my conversations” option

Webcams often come built in to computers Stand-alone webcams can cost as little as $20 Skype allows users to call any other Skype user in the world for free

Keep webcams out of kids’ rooms Kids should: close the lens cap or turn camera off when not in use never use a webcam with strangers never do anything they wouldn’t want the entire world to see

45% of teens say a cell phone is essential to their daily lives 42% say they can write text messages blindfolded 40% say they would die without their cell phones 20% say they have sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves (“sexting”)

59% of kids pretend to be someone else online 28% do so because they want to see what it would be like to be older 23% want to flirt with older people Kids use the Internet to experiment with their identity:

Creating Identities on Social Networking Sites

On sites like MySpace, status comes from having thousands of “friends” view your profile

online predators rarely misrepresent their age or their motives youth, 13-15, involved in risky behaviours (talking with strangers, flirting, posting intimate information) are most at risk majority of solicitations received from other youth (under 21) Research on online predation shows:

Impact of cyberbullying can be more devastating than real-world bullying: the person often doesn’t know who is bullying them many people can covertly witness and join in the bullying

half of students report being bullied online (University of Toronto, 2008) reasons for being harassed online include physical appearance, ability and/or sexual orientation (Shariff, 2008) 81% report that cyberbullying has become worse since the previous year (Shariff, 2008) Prevalence of cyberbullying among students:

“ Technology doesn’t provide tangible feedback about the consequences of actions on others.” (Willard, 2000) The lack of non-verbal visual cues makes it difficult to gauge how actions are being received by others Building empathy is key to promoting pro-social behaviours in youth

“ Technology allows us to be invisible or anonymous.” (Willard, 2000) If a person can’t be identified with an action, then feelings of accountability are diminished 68 % of students in Grades 6 and 7 who have been cyberbullied know the identity of the perpetrator (University of Toronto, 2008)

speed and wide (potentially global) reach access to others any place, any time – meaning that “home” is no longer a safe refuge from bullying The Internet offers:

It’s up there for 6 billion people to see. Anyone with a computer can see it … and you can’t get away from it. It doesn’t go away when you come home from school. It made me feel even more trapped. David Knight, bullying victim

“ right.. this guy did something in his spare time… And obviously taken out of context it looks ridiculous. Most of the things all of you “cool people” do in your living room would also appear twice as ridiculous if someone also invaded your privacy and took them out of context. For me this video isn’t sad.. what is sad though is some people posting these comments. Look yourself in the mirror and get a life.”

to make wise online decisions and to use the technology in an ethical and responsible way freedom of expression comes with a responsibility to not use the technology to spread hateful or discriminatory messages to think before they act online. Once something has been sent, there is no taking it back: unlike a verbal message it is permanent and more powerful Teach young people:

Online culture of cruel and violent humour on kids’ favourite sites

3/4 of teenage boys reported viewing sexually explicit material on the Internet

Adults just don’t get it. We’re surrounded by porn everywhere we go. It’s everywhere – in the movies we watch, the magazines we read, the music videos we see. 13-year old boy, Toronto

Online communities can encourage risky or dangerous behaviour

94% of kids’ top 50 sites include marketing material The Internet is: part of kids’ culture an interactive medium an effective tool for collecting data an unregulated environment Online Marketing

relationship building viral marketing behavioural targeting Online marketing techniques:

“ Advanced Targeting” “ Content Integration” “ Trusted Referrals” “ Viral Distribution”

Online games centered around brands, products, or brand-related characters are known as “advergames” Recent industry research suggests that advergames are more effective than other forms of advertising 3/4 of kids think advergames are just games – not advertising

Canadian kids’ top 50 sites: 90% contain registration procedures where kids are asked to submit personal information 94% collect additional information through other features such as surveys and contests

Children who give out personal information on commercial sites may also do so in more risky environments

How students prefer to get information for school assignments Credibility of online information

Strategies Parents feel out of their depth when dealing with their kids’ online activities

Develop a deeper understanding of kids’: online activities Internet environments use of the Net to explore roles and identity Use the Internet environments and technological tools yourself Learn about the Internet by asking kids to teach you everything they know

Supervision Children under 10 should not be surfing the Net alone Keep Internet- connected computers out of kids’ rooms and in a highly visible area

Having a rule about meeting online acquaintances reduces the likelihood of this happening by half The very fact that there is a rule in place affects kids’ behaviour positively K ids in Grades 8 and 9 have approximately one-third fewer rules than younger kids do Rules

Tasks can’t be performed effectively when multi-tasking No mental “downtime” to relax and reflect Kids with their own Internet connection spend twice as much time online Restrict Time Spent Online

Filtering Technological tools can be helpful when children are young Inform kids when you use filters and/or monitoring tools Save instant messaging chat logs so you have access to them if a serious situation occurs

Resources for parents at: www.media-awareness.ca

Resources for parents at: www.bewebaware.ca

Fostering good communication means no “freaking out”

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Parenting the Net Generation - Full Version

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