Educating Schoolchildren About Internet Safety: How to Play Safely on a Virtual Playground

In speaking with a 4th grade class about internet safety recently, I asked for a show of hands of children who had ever given out their address or e-mail on MySpace or similar sites. Three or four hands of the schoolchildren shot up into the air. I next asked them how many of them had clicked on ads and filled out forms of the win-a-free-iPod sort. Almost all of the hands went up, and everybody started trying to talk over each other to tell me their own story of frustration with these ads. Listening to them was as educating to me as I was trying to be to them. Adults often hope to teach their kids about internet safety by sheltering them from the internet. While this is a reasonable plan, another route is to simply begin educating kids about the internet in a way that lets them understand how the internet really works and how to guard themselves in this virtual playground, just as they would on a real playground.

It is instructive for kids to know that 3 types of intruders will try to trick them on the internet: Meanies, Big Meanies, & Very Bad Meanies. On the other hand, FAIRies are also close by, who are interested in playing fair.

Meanies

Just as adults are, kids are intrigued by social networking sites that are cut from the same cloth as MySpace. Certain sites cater to kid's interests with kid-themed ads, drawing kids to click. Just as MySpace does, these sites try to elicit information from kids in order to pinpoint their interests. Since many parents aren't spending very much time educating their kids about ways to practice internet safety, many kids are willingly providing any information that these MySpace-clones request. As a result, the advertisements that are targeted to these children are specific in nature (informed by their interests), and very allurring to the kids.

Of course, any time a kid clicks an ad, somebody gets paid. In addition, kids are taken away from the site they are surfing on to an ad site that usually asks for even more information. This is when internet safety can be an even greater concern. Many of these sites make kids believe they've won an iPod, or a big screen t.v., and that they only need to type in another page or two of information before they can claim their prize.

Sadly, such a procedure is only routine for kids, who are coaxed by teachers and staff every year to sell quotas of cookies and treats in order to possibly win an iPod, etc. Kids tend to view internet advertisements as games, since schools often spend time educating them that competitions are character-building, and that rewards for competitions are often prizes such as iPods.

However, elementary school kids must be taught that "Meanies" sometimes wait for them on the internet, hoping to trick them into giving them invisible money when they click their ads. Many adults don't even understand this.

Big Meanies

Downloading files can be risky. Children don't exactly understand how this is so. As I said earlier, many adults do not understand either. However, certain people exploit this lack of knowledge in people of all ages by infecting their computers with viruses. These are "Big Meanies."

They turn kids into zombies, who then unknowingly infect their friends as well. Additionally, if parents of schoolchildren use the family computer to do business, Big Meanie's viruses could also probe their accounts for sensitive information.

Certainly, people exist in the world who will steal as much information as they can get their hands on, and who only have a desire to manipulate others. We shouldn't let our kids fall prey to the Big Meanies. Rather, we should do a better job of educating them about how to behave on their internet, for their own good.

Very Bad Meanies

Now, however we choose to let our children know, there also exists a group of people in the world who want to harm others. As adults, we know that these people are deeply disturbed individuals who do not represent the mainstream of internet users. But sometimes our kids can't tell the difference.

Very Bad Meanies will try to gain the confidence of children, and will try to meet them in person. Schoolchildren must be educated by teachers and parents that no one who they meet on the internet should be met in person without first getting permission from their parent.

While we as teachers and parents do not want to scare our children, we should be educating them about the reality of internet safety. We should not underestimate their intelligence and their good instincts once they are armed with solid information.

FAIRies

Well, up until now, only thieves and criminals of the internet have been given our attention. I'd also like to mention that the web has an encouraging share of FAIRies -- people who are interested in making the internet a fun & safe place for kids to visit. Sites like funbrain.com, or nick.com seem to fall into this category. These are sites that prove that having fun and being educated can go together like chocolate and peanut butter.

While certain unscrupulous "meanies" lurk in the internet's cracks and crevices, it's a relief to know that certain "FAIRies" are always nearby to lure our kids to more enriching activities.