WebedtecH

After watching the Frontline special on “Growing up online” I’ve come to realize the core of the issues, whether it’s social networking, cyberbullying, stalkers, or any other forms of nastiness boil down to one thing…trust.

We can spend all our money and time building moats and walls around our children, screening their friends, and spying on their every move but it will be to no avail. Kids are far smarter about technology than even we give them credit and will find the ways necessary to access what they want. Take basic precautions but better is the time spent building the trusting relationships with your kids so they are comfortable sharing their online world with you. If you don’t understand something and they do, ask them to teach you. If you don’t know, find out. They’re your kids after all…what else do you have to do but spend time and money investing in their welfare and well-being.

Teachers are in the same circumstance. Often we spend more time with the kids than the parents do during the week. Don’t be the 30-year tenured dinosaur reveling in your technical illiteracy. You may not know it all, but you do know how to communicate with kids. Help them to feel comfortable communicating with you.

I watched the Frontline show with my 15 year old daughter (I highly recommend everyone watch it with a teenager for a realistic perspective) and at the end when the one kid said he would not give his mother his Facebook password I asked her “So why do you give me your usernames and passwords when I ask?” I half expected the answer, “Because I have to.” The real answer was…”Because I trust you.”