Internet Safety Presentation Elementary Level

1. Internet Safety PresentationElementary Level Developed by the WCPS Internet Safety Committee and the Washington County Sheriff’s Department

2. Internet Safety Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZHq4CQekTY

3. Internet Safety Statistics • 11 years of age – the average age of first Internet exposure to adult material. (Family Safe Media, 2007) • 42% of children ages 10-17 had been exposed to adult material on the Internet within the last year. That amounts to nearly 15 million children in the U.S. alone. (FSM, 2007) • In a study of 4 million children ages 7-17 who use the Internet, 29% indicated they would give out their home address and 14% would give out their email if asked. (NOP Research Group, 2002)

4. Internet Safety Statistics (cont.) • Nine (9) out of 10 children between the ages of 8-16 have viewed adult material on the Internet. In most cases, the sites were accessed unintentionally when the child, often in the process of doing homework, used a seemingly innocent sounding word to search for information or pictures. (London School of Economics, 2002) • 77% of parents do NOT have rules about what their kids can do on the computer, such as restricting the amount of time their kids spend on the computer. (Kaiser Family Foundation Study, March 2005)

5. Cyberbullying • Face-to-face bullying is defined as repeated, abusive behavior toward another person. It can be both physical and psychological. • Cyberbullying is psychological and the tactics used in cyberspace has grown over time to include these methods: • Sending hate email messages • Creating Web sites meant to humiliate a victim • Forwarding private emails without permission • Taking an embarrassing photo with a camera phone and posting it on the Internet • Setting up polls on Web sites to vote on who's the fattest, ugliest, geekiest kid in the school

6. Tips for Parents • Keep the computer in a central family location, not in the child's room. The computer shouldn't be an escape for the child, but a family activity. • Get to know your children's online friends. You wouldn't let them spend lots of time with a new friend in the neighborhood until you've met them and know about them. Online friends are no different. • Screen e-mail with all younger children. Make sure you screen all attachments or limit e-mail through parental control features or software.

7. Tips for Parents (cont.) • Help your children keep computing online in balance. Too many children invest too much time computing and forget to play with real friends and never play outdoors in physical activity. Help them find a healthy balance. • If you can't be home with them when they're online, use child protection software to help keep an eye on them. Some software keeps them from sharing personal information with others online, like their names, addresses and telephone numbers. • Make sure they understand that they should never meet anyone in real life that they met online without parents in attendance, and that people online are often not honest about who or what they are.

8. Credits Produced in collaboration by: • Washington County Public Schools • Washington County Sheriff’s Department