Social Safety Starts in School: Why Schools Should Teach Online Safety

Parents or school, who is really responsible for teaching kids the larger lessons in life?

This debate has raged on in regard to sexual health, now it's expanded online, to online safety.  With 61% of people between the ages of 13-17 reporting to have a personal profile on a social networking site, lessons about online safety have never been more important. 

Just look at the stats from a ground-breaking study recently published by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center:

• 71%  of kids between the ages of 10-17 reported receiving messages online from someone they don't know.
• 45% have been asked for personal information by someone they don't know.
• 30% have considered meeting someone that they've only talked to online
• 14% have actually met a person face-to-face they they've only spoken to over the Internet (9% of 13-15s; 22% of 16-17s)

Clearly this is bad news.  It becomes even worse when the students are questioned about their regard toward safety online.  In a study performed by George Washington University, it was revealed that:

• 54% of students were believed it was safe to meet someone in person after they had been chatting with them for a long time

This is unsafe and unacceptable behavior.  And online safety is clearly not being taught at home. A survey commissioned by Cox Communications and NCMEC found that

• 33% of 13- to- 17-year-olds reported that their parents or guardians know "very little" or "nothing" about what they do on the Internet.
• 48% of 16-17s said their parents or guardians know "very little" or "nothing"
• 22% of those surveyed reported their parents or guardians have never discussed Internet safety with them.

In a similar survey Cox Communication and NCMEC conducted with parents of teens, it was discovered that:

• 42% of parents do not review the content of what their teenager(s) read and/or type in chat rooms or via Instant Messaging.
• 95% of parents couldn't identify common chat room lingo that teenagers use to warn people they're chatting with that their parents are watching. Those phrases are POS (Parent Over Shoulder) and P911 (Parent Alert).
• Nearly three out of 10 (28%) of parents don't know or are not sure if their teens talk to strangers online.
• 30% of parents allow their teenagers to use the computer in private areas of the house such as a bedroom or a home office. Parents say they are more vigilant about where their teen(s) go online if the computer is in a public area of the household.

In many adults' minds, the internet is like the wild frontier, and teenagers are being given free rein. With the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reporting more than 2,600 incidents last year of adults using the Internet to entice children, and one in five children admitting to being solicited online, the idea of teenagers being let loose on the internet with little supervision is a harrowing prospect indeed.  Given these statistics, does it really matter whose responsibility it is to teach online safety?  It's clear the lessons need to be taught.

Below is a basic list of safety tips to help teens protect themselves online.

DON'T POST SEXY OR PROVOCATIVE PICTURES: As explained by the Ad Councils in the newest PSAs, photos can be duplicated and spread so quickly online that posting these type of pictures can be dangerous.  It also invites stalking

DON'T POST PHOTOS THAT SHOW YOU ENGAGING IN ILLEGAL ACTIVITY: This is usually a question of not thinking.  Teens like to post photos from parties they just attended, many of which include underage drinking and illegal drug use.  This could have long term ramifications though when teens are applying to college and jobs; one in five employers now say they are looking at potential candidates online before hiring, and 54% of those said it can affect their decision.

DON'T BLOG ABOUT DRINKING OR USING ILLEGAL DRUGS: It goes with the above caveat.

DON'T POST PERSONAL INFORMATION LIKE YOUR CELL NUMBER, YOUR IM NAME OR YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS:  This seems obvious, but many teens need to be reminded. Anyone can look at their profile or blog if it is public and posting this sort of personal information invites stalking.

DON'T GIVE OUT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION TO PEOPLE YOU MEET ONLINE: Remind your teens that people they meet in a social network already have every means possible to speak with them. Most have instant message capability and e-mail capability, so there is no reason that these strangers need more access to their lives.

DON'T MEET PEOPLE YOU HAVE MET ONLINE IN THE REAL WORLD: This is something that you should be adamant about when discussing internet safety. The potential for personal harm is just too great.

Some great resources you can review to learn more about what teens are doing online, as well as ways to inform your online safety lesson, are below: