Tech News & Tips for Parents

Growing Up Online

Last week PBS aired an eye-opening Frontline episode, Growing Up Online. Some thought-provoking quotes from the program's producers:

• Online Predators: One of the biggest surprises in making this film was the discovery that the threat of online predators is misunderstood and overblown. The data shows that giving out personal information over the Internet makes absolutely no difference when it comes to a child's vulnerability to predation. (Rachel Dreitzen)
• Presence and Importance of Online Communication: Despite the research we did, I don't think I was prepared when we started talking to kids for the extent to which the Internet and other electronic communication has permeated all aspects of being a teenager. Almost every kid expressed the utter importance of being connected with friends all the time and how unthinkable a life without that connection would be. I think a lot of kids were bemused by our list of questions about "life online," because they don't sit around thinking about the Internet in their lives. It's just there, always, another tool for them to use or place for them to go. (Caitlin McNally)
• Social Networks Can Be Good: While there is certainly an abundance of stories about the dark and potentially dangerous places kids can form for themselves online, there were a lot of online kids we came across who seemed to really benefit from reaching out over the Internet. (John Maggio)
• Kids Consider EMail Old-Fashioned: Writing an e-mail for a lot of the kids we talked to is equivalent to sitting down and hand-writing a letter for me. They described e-mail as a slow, archaic way to keep in touch with your aunt halfway across the country or apply for a summer internship. Even the most articulate kids who aced all their English classes could switch effortlessly into IM or text-speak; quick, pithy, shorthand Internet language was second nature to almost all the kids we met. They're bilingual, and they intuitively understand an entire culture generated by the Internet, with customs and vocabulary that we had to learn step-by-step. (Caitlin McNally)

This program is well worth your time;  you can still view it online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/.

Do you use public computers?

If you use computers in coffee shops, the public library or other places, your information is vulnerable unless you follow safe-computing practices such as those offered in this article from PC Magazine: Stay Secure on a Public PC. Follow these tips for a safer computing experience.

Fearmongering

Cyber-safety expert Nancy Willard, author of Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens,  has written a compelling article on the tenor of many online safety discussions these days. This really resonated with me. As adults, it is our responsibility to be cognizant of what's going on onine and teach kids how to deal with it responsibly and safely. If we react to misuses of the Internet with panic, we risk losing credibility with kids, and they will be less likely to come to us with their online problems. Unfamiliarity can breed fear; when it comes to the Internet, better to move past our fears with a balanced and measured approach. Social networks like Facebook and mySpace are not inherently bad. Technology is not inherently bad. Their value depends on how we use them; this is where our kids need us!

*Cross posted at Tech Tips for Teaching & Learning *

Have you Googled yourself lately?

Last night MPR's In the Loop aired a program titled "Your Exposed Life". It will be rebroadcast Wednesday, October 17 at 9:00 p.m., and is also available for live streaming or download on the website.

This program took a look at how much of our personal information is online, what the implications are, and what to do (or not do) about it. Some of the discussion had to do with who is looking for information on us, and what it could mean. How would college admissions offices or potential employers view your child's mySpace or Facebook page?

For many people, mySpace or Facebook is a fun social network. There's no inherent harm in it; like so many things, it depends on how it's used. Tools like this are, and will continue to be part of our lives, so we need to teach kids to use them well. We want our kids to be safe and to think before putting personal information online. Young people tend not to see the potential consequences of their actions, particularly online where they feel more anonymous and protected than they really are. Many believe that only their friends will ever see their mySpace page, and accuse adults of snooping if we look for them. We need to stress over and over again that this is public information, with all that implies. Once we put our information out there, it is hard to pull it back, even if we delete the page. Who knows who might have printed or downloaded it?

We need to do all we can to get this message across to the kids in our lives.

Passwords

It's that time of the year when we techies get many visits and emails from students who have forgotten their passwords. They do have a lot to remember: user id's and passwords for our network, Infinite Campus, Email and Moodle. Like many adults, they are tempted to use something easy, like their name, so they won't forget. After all, they reason, who would want to get into their account?

Well...in technology like so many other areas, high school is a time to form habits that will serve them well in their future. This generation will need to use passwords to fill out college applications and financial aid forms, do their banking and shopping, check their own and their children's grades, and more than we can probably even imagine. It's important that they learn and practice secure computing.

What makes a secure password? It should consist of letters, numbers and if possible another character such as an underscore or period. It should be at least 8 characters. It should NOT be your name, birthdate, telephone number, and certainly not your social security number! Ideally it would be totally random and would not make a word. For many kids this age, that makes it pretty hard to remember, but if you use words, at least split up the letters with numbers or symbols. And (nobody likes this one) you should change your password often; many companies force a password change every month or two.

To make life manageable, many of us use several passwords among our accounts. It goes without saying that the one you use for banking should not be the one you use for random websites! In the end, it's a matter of common sense. There ARE people out there who would like to know your passwords, and they are pretty savvy at doing it, so be vigilant about protecting yourself.