Digital Primary School Kids: Safe, Smart, and Responsible

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Who is the digital native?

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15 Hours a Week

45 Hours a Week

Media Today

Media - 1960

Kids today are consuming and

creating a lot of media

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Media today is mobile and user generated

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Media is about entertainment, education, and

socializing

• 96% of online

tweens and teens

have used social

networking

technologies like

setting up profiles,

blogging, or

chatting.

• In 2007, 24% of

U.S. children and

teens visited virtual

worlds like Webkinz

and Club Penguin.

By 2011, an

estimated 53% will

do so.

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Digital Media: The Possibilities

• Fun and entertaining

• Express themselves and be creative

• Explore their identity

• Keep in touch with friends and family

• Social support/instant community

• Educational

o Digital citizenship

o Learn about different cultures and ideas

o Connect to and collaborate with others

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• Addiction

• Inappropriate content

• Cyberbullying

• Commercialism

• Strangers/Predators

Digital Media: The Perils

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Addiction

Warning signs for computer

addiction include: missing meals,

losing sleep, dropping activities,

skipping showers, and missing

homework assignments or school.

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Inappropriate Content

More than 40% of

tweens and teens

have come across

nudity and

pornography on the

Internet.

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Cyberbullying

30-40% of kids

admit to being

cyberbullied, but

most kids don’t

report their

victimization.

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Commercialism

Advertisers will spend $150 million in virtual

worlds by 2012, 10 times what was spent in 2006

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What can you do to help your kids be safe, smart, and responsible media

users and creators?

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Media Tips: The Basics

• Embrace their world and keep the lines of

communication open

• Encourage balanced use

• Keep media out of kids’ bedrooms

• Have some rules about the kinds of sites

they can visit and what they can download

• Research and review parental controls

and privacy settings

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Teach Internet Safety

• Don’t share personal information like name, school, age, or address

• Never send pictures to strangers

• Keep passwords private (except for parents)

• Don’t open any mail or content from strangers

• If something mean or creepy happens, get a grown-up immediately

• Explain that whatever they put on the Internet is permanent and can be

passed along by others to others

• Determine together who they can “friend” and chat with

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Cyberbullying… on the receiving end

• Don't assume your kids

will talk to you about being

bullied

• Don't respond

• Sign off and block the bully

• Change contact information

• Save all bullying messages

• Report bullying to school and

company that hosts the site (if a

false profile)

CYBERBULLYING

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• Talk with your child about why it’s important to

treat others with respect. If they wouldn’t say

something to someone’s face, they shouldn’t say it

through media.

• Ask your child how they would feel if they were

the victim of a cyberbully. Discuss the importance of

treating others the way you want to be treated.

• Explain what could happen (e.g. suspension, expulsion,

arrest or a lawsuit) if s/he is caught cyberbullying.

• Establish rules and consequences.

Cyberbullying…on the delivering end

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Commercialism

• Point out all the ways that

marketers target them:

- Surveys/Quizzes

- Advergames

- Pop-ups

- Product Placement

• Use the coins (in games and

virtual worlds) to teach the

value of money

• Talk about how spending is

encouraged

• Tell your kids never to click on

an ad or fill out a form without

your permission

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• Easy-to-use, detailed information on media titles

• Can sort by age, media type, release date

• Recommended listsby age and stage

• News and research

• Parenting tips and tools

• Weekly newsletter

Common Sense Media

www.commonsensemedia.org

www.commonsensemedia.org

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Improve the media landscape….

one decision,

one family,

one community

at a time.

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