Kids Safety
Kids learn online perils
Children as young as seven are being taught the perils of going online in a bid to keep them protected from cyber danger, and to avoid making embarrassing posts in the future.
The perils of social media were again highlighted this week after shock jock Dom Harvey posted an all-too-revealing shot of Dancing with the Stars finalist Chrystal Chenery. The offending tweet was captioned: “Chrystal just showing Art what he missed out on.
9 Computer Games that Ruined My Childhood
Our games editor is on a plane somewhere between Quebec and Georgia. Our assistant games editor doesn’t start until August. The interns are in charge today, and one of them, Rebecca Sarvady, is finally ready to open up about the games that spoiled her otherwise idyllic childhood. It’s a sad, funny, ultimately brave tale, one well worth heeding, whether your childhood remains intact or if it was somehow ruined decades ago.
Rebecca Sarvady, pastemagazine.com
Should Kids Have A ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ Online?
Every day, millions of pictures and posts go up online detailing the adventures of parents with their offspring. Should those kids have the right for those posts to be expunged?
In the UK, there’s a move afoot to give children the right to have any and all posts they’ve created deleted, in line with the general EU “Right To Be Forgotten” law. The BBC reports on the “iRights” campaign here, which aims to push forward a proposal to allow children to “easily edit or delete all content they have created.”
Alex Kidman Lifehacker Australia
Giving children ‘iRights’ to delete what they put online sends the wrong moral message
We can’t expect teenagers to behave decently online if we take away the possibility of permanent consequences for their actions
Business helps parents track kids online
Through his new business, recently retired Bowling Green Police Department Detective Mike Lemon will continue to follow his passion of protecting children from online predators. His business plan for his post-retirement career is three-fold. He will offer what he calls a social scan so parents who want to examine the online activities of their children can bring in all of their electronic devices and Lemon will download all of the information (including information that has been deleted) to a thumb drive the parents can then review. The drive will be organized by types of information such as photos, text messages and downloads.
DEBORAH HIGHLAND, bgdailynews.com
Online cops: Smartphones “a problem” for kids, can put them at risk
It’s easy for kids to act older than they actually are online. That gets dangerous, local police officials say, when children log onto adults-only dating websites and other digital meeting places.Smartphones have made that easier than ever.
BRETT HAMBRIGHT, Lancaster Online
My Kids Spend Hours A Day Online. Yes, I’m OK With That
My oldest son, 27, was visiting recently while his youngest brother, 17, had a friend over. He poked his head into his brother’s room to say hello, then joined me on the porch. “Those guys really have an advantage,” he said.
I laughed. “Why? Because they’re gaming?”
He nodded. “Think about it, Mom. It’s Saturday night, and those guys are in there playing ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Minecraft.’ They already know how to write software code and design things.”
by Holly Robinson, Cognoscenti
Third of all teens who meet strangers online are meeting them in person, too
The majority of teenagers don’t consider meeting strangers online a taboo, with six in 10 saying they have met at least one new friend on the Web. Teens are also texting and communicating through online games and social networks more frequently than they are spending time together in person. And of those who meet people online, one-third also followed up with an in-person meeting.
Cecilia Kang The Washington Post
The True Effects of Parents Shaming Their Kids Online
A mom posts a video online blasting her teen daughter for posting racy photos to Facebook. Another mom takes advantage of a barber shop offering to give her son an “old man haircut” to teach him a lesson, then shares the photos on social media. These parents’ online child shaming acts are far from rare. Just search “child-shaming video” on YouTube, and you will find more than 30,000 matches.
