Perry Lecompton High School: Library: General

MySpace or Yours?

Cyber-safety for parents and teens

by Susie Whitaker

January 04, 2008

Our children are growing up in the so called "MySpace/FaceBook generation" - the Internet is their playground. Imagine a playground that has all your friends, your favorite music, and everybody is sharing their photo albums - sounds great right?! Life for our children include: text messaging, social networking, virtual gaming, and so much more.

Teens willingly and fearlessly embrace the new Web 2.0 technologies that often confuse or frustrate adults.

I know this wonderful new high-tech world sounds unbelievably amazing, and to be honest, it is! I love all of the new Web 2.0 tools available. Just mentioning podcasting, webcasting, blogging, and wikis get me thinking of all of the new exciting ways I can share information. WOW what a great time to be a school librarian!

However-- you knew it was coming. didn't you:)

Parents and teens need to play very smart and safe in this new virtual playground.

Just like the playground of your younger years - there are rules. Here are, in my opinion, the top ten, in no particular order:

Don't share any personal information - addresses, schools, phone numbers, work places especially -- you only invite trouble when you give too much information
Keep your password private
Make sure you keep your social networking page private so that friends have to be invited
Make sure the friends you invite follow the same rules as you
Photos need to be appropriate for all audiences
Don't use the network to "pick-on; bully; slam; hurt" others.
PARENTS - require your child to show you his/her online space regularly
School is not to place to check or add to your online space - it is against USD 343 school internet use policy and you may lose internet privileges.
Copyright laws apply to these places and violators are being prosecuted - meaning that parents of minor children can and have paid fines for copyright infringements. Music, photos, and videos created by others - belong to others - you must ask permission and follow guidelines.
Don't talk/invite any one that you do not know personally - be smart about those that claim to be friends of a friend.

There are many web sites that offer parents advice about social networking and the Web 2.0 tools of today. If you need help or have additional questions - please don't hesitate to contact me.