The dangers of the Internet outlined in presentation to parents

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Not only are the olden days of when you used an encyclopedia to research a school project all but gone, but so too are the days when parents didn’t need to be concerned about what their children were doing on line on the Internet.

Because the truth is, young people today are extremely Internet and computer savvy. And parents need to be just as educated about what their children are doing when they go online says Bill Curry, the director of programs and student services for the Tri-County Regional School Board.

Curry has done many presentations about the dangers that the Internet poses and on cyber bullying over the years. Most recently he did a presentation on the subject at an information meeting held at Drumlin Heights Consolidated School on Oct. 20.

Curry says computers should not be used to babysit children, parents need to monitor their children’s online activities and computers should always be kept in a central location in the house. If your son or daughter is in their room on the computer with their door shut, how do you know where they’re traveling on the information highway?

Because for all of the benefits that the Internet provides, and Curry says the benefits are countless, there are just as many dangers. For instance when you’re in a chat room, you don’t know who that other person is that you’re chatting to. The same can apply to instant messaging. “You may think you’re talking to me as your friend, but it can be someone else,” says Curry, who says you may be in a chat room thinking you know who you’re talking to because they’re using your friend’s email address, when in reality someone else is using that email.

While the Internet provides many uses, such as instant communications, opportunities for learning, a means for conducting business and a place for entertainment, there are many risks, which, among other things, includes viruses, unsolicited email, inappropriate and pornographic material, loss of privacy, lurking strangers and cyber bullying.

Curry threw out some stats on how wide-spread the Internet is among young people: 99 per cent of Canadian youth have reported using the Internet, 79 per cent of children between the ages of nine and 17 have Internet access at home, 70 per cent of Canadian four-year-olds have used a computer and one in four children have had a stranger ask to meet them in person.

For Curry a spine-chilling statistic is the fact that 15 per cent of all young Internet users in this country have met a person at least once who they first met online, and only six per cent of them were accompanied by a parent or other adult.

Being unaccompanied, or more specifically unsupervised, is also a major concern that parents should be more aware of Curry says. He says a large majority of Canadian youth have indicated they are unsupervised while they are online and/or they have no set rules to follow. So if they’re visiting adult only chat rooms, which basically have no age verification process, they’re doing so without their parents knowing. “That’s not from the library, that’s not from school, but that’s from home….85 per cent are unsupervised,” Curry says, adding many young people have email addresses their parents don’t even know about. Social networking sites, which are exploding in popularity, are also something parents should be keeping a watchful eye on and making sure that young people, while online, are not posting personal information about themselves – ie: social insurance numbers, addresses, phone numbers, family financial information. He suggests they should also be wary of how much other information they share too that could be used by another person to identify them or locate them offline. “What you should be teaching your children is, do you want the whole world to see your picture forever?” he says, noting that even the Tri-County Regional School Board Googles perspective employees on Facebook, a social networking site.

As for advice for parents, Curry offers these tips: educate yourself, centralize the location of your computer, monitor your child’s use, install filtering software and establish ground rules and age-appropriate consequences. Parents should also explain to children that talking to someone on the Internet is like talking to a stranger. And children should be encouraged to talk to their parents about what they are doing online.

The other thing parents, and young people, need to worry about his cyber-bullying. Curry says people next email or text other people with nasty, harassing or threatening messages, or they even go so far as to set up vile websites about other people. “Kids these days aren’t just walking in the halls calling each other names,” he says, “they’re sending emails. We’ve had instances of kids threatening each other on instant messaging.”

A British survey found that one in four youth aged 11 to 19 had been threatened via their computers or cell phones.

Curry says it’s extremely important that parents and their children keep their own lines of communication open in case this is happening in your household with your child who is either the victim, or the bully.