Week 14: Internet Safety Assignment

I chose to read the article Provident Living Guidelines for Internet Safety.

I watched the real life stories videos on Netsmartz, the FauxPaw video, and some PBS documentaries on cyberbullying.

One of my most important take-aways from the videos was how easy it is to find out a person’s personal information even when they are very careful not to give this information out on the internet. We need to be very careful about posting any information on any internet website. I was also glad to see that my family follows most of the guidelines listed in the Provident living article. I was very surprised at how big of a problem cyber bullying is and feel that it is important to teach students the huge impact that internet communication can have on people.

Reflection: I interviewed a thirteen year old boy who spends a lot of time on the internet mostly playing video games. He already knew most of the things that I researched regarding internet safety. He could tell me that you should have your computer in a place where other people could always see it and that you should always have permission to get on the internet when no one is home to supervise you. He was also able to describe to me the family blocker that was installed on his home computer to avoid any pop ups or other websites deemed inappropriate for a variety of reasons. He also knew that you should not share any information including your age or your school over the web. I also asked him about cyber bullying and he agreed that you should not say anything to anyone over the internet that you would not say to their face. However, he did mention that he thought it was dumb that anyone would kill themselves over something that was said over the internet. I talked to him a little about having proper internet etiquette and being very careful about what you say to anyone including your friends because some people can be very sensitive. He then agreed that he wouldn’t be mean to anyone over the internet. It seems that this boy already knows a lot about internet safety but I do believe that he will take a few things away from what I said and hopefully be even more careful in the future.