These days tweens are masters at navigating the Internet. Have you ever wondered what they do for hours and where they go while online? Well bNetS@vvy has compiled a list of social networking sites that may be popular with your tween. As a parent or guardian it is important to understand the guidelines and rules associated with each site. Some social networking sites have age limits; others are open for any age group and may post information in appropriate for underage viewers. Most social media sites have chat features so it is important that tweens understand the dangers that may arise when sharing information online. Hopefully the list of sites below will keep you abreast of some of the trendy sites frequented by tweens. Feel free to list any sites we have have missed!
www.bebo.com
www.blogster.com
www.boombang.com
www.buzznet.com
www.cellufum.com
www.crunchyroll.com
www.dofus.com
www.facebook.com
www.faces.com
www.flixster.com
www.foursquare.com
www.friendster.com
www.fubar.com
www.gaiaonline.com
www.gamerdna.com
www.gossipreport.com
www.graalonline.com
www.guildwars.com
www.habbo.com
www.hotlist.com
www.itsmy.com
www.kiwibox.com
www.lifeknot.com
www.meetup.com
www.mocospace.com
www.myanimelist.com
www.mylife.com
www.myspace.com
www.netlog.com
www.opendiary.com
www.raptr.com
www.tagged.com
www.twitter.com
www.webkinz.com
www.weeworld.com
www.worldofwarcraft.com
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- The mission of the bNetS@vvy project is to help tweens better understand the risks associated with Internet use and to educate parents, guardians, teachers and other adults about the power of internet use. Join us on Facebook to stay abreast of new internet safety topics!
As parents and educators, we worry about children who spend too much of their days in front of a screen — a TV, computer, or smartphone. According to a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, kids ages 8-18 spend 10 hours and 45 minutes per week “media multi-tasking,” and the result for many is a decline in grades and an uptick in troubled behavior.
To help combat this trend, parents are urged to limit their kids’ online activity and to model responsible use of technology themselves. But what happens if the parents themselves can’t kick the habit of being online all the time?
The Washington Post features a story about these very “grown-ups,” who spend more time online than in “real” life. The result? Obsessive behavior, fraying relationships and troubled marriages, says the Post, which offers an explanation but not an excuse for the addictive behavior: ”…human beings tend to repeat actions that are pleasurable and rewarding, particularly if they get our endorphins flowing. The complication is that we devalue delayed rewards — the feeling, for instance, of looking back on lovely moments with family — in favor of the immediacy of the new. In this case, it’s data. It makes us high.”
The Post piece leaves us with a measure of hope: “Nobody knows where this is all headed. Jaron Lanier, one of the creators of virtual reality technology and author of “You Are Not a Gadget,” hopes all these advances will create greater appreciation of the physical world. ‘It might take a while,” he said, “but one day, I hope we notice that reality is much more textured and interesting.’”
bNetS@vvy is a proud outreach partner of the new PBS Frontline production “Digital Nation,” a documentary by filmmaker Rachel Dretzin (“Growing Up Online”). The documentary, airing Tuesday, Feb. 2 on PBS, explores, among other topics, the challenges of parenting in a digital age and the benefits of teaching with technology. It’s an exciting and informative film, backed up by dazzling online resources, including digital workshops for parents and educators. Without further ado, bNetS@vvy presents guest blogger Rachel Dretzin, on “parenting digital natives.”
Because I’ve spent the last three years making documentaries for PBS “FRONTLINE” about life in the digital age, I’m asked all the time what rules I have for my own three children when it comes to the internet.
The answer is… not many.
The more I look for answers about what we actually know about the effects of the online world on kids, the more I realize that we know virtually nothing. We’re at the very beginning of a gigantic social revolution that is transforming our minds, our hearts, and our families… and science hasn’t caught up yet. We don’t know how the internet is affecting our brains, or how much time online is too much time, or whether gaming is good or bad, or whether reading printed books will turn out to be essential in the 21st century. The answers just aren’t out there, and anyone who tells you that they are is lying.
Even the things that the so-called experts tell you to worry about as a parent are constantly changing. Three years ago, when I first started reporting this story, everyone was worried about predators. Kids unwittingly putting their personal information online, only to be snatched by stalkers who’d been tracking them for months. Kids lured into meeting a stranger who they’ve been duped into thinking is their age. Kids falling in love with a virtual friend who turns out not to be a friend at all.
But these days, most people tracking these things agree that predator danger has been vastly exaggerated. Now we worry more about other things: about cyberbullying, about our kids posting something on Facebook that will come back to haunt them, or about them playing so many hours of a video game that the rest of their life begins to fall apart.
In the course of making my latest FRONTLINE documentary, “Digital Nation,” I’ve spoken to college professors who bemoan their students’ habit of facebooking and googling during lectures. They talk about kids whose papers are constructed as a series of unrelated paragraphs that don’t have much to do with each other, because the kids got distracted while writing them. I’ve met young people who have more of a life in the virtual world than in the real one, and a 83-year-old woman who gained a new lease on life by creating an online cooking show. I’ve been amazed by what the digital world can give us, and terrified by what it’s capable of taking away.
Most importantly, I’ve watched these issues play out in my own life and the lives of my children. It’s getting harder to pay singular attention to each other, harder to switch off that buzz in our brains telling us to “check in” with our digital technology, whether it be phone or laptop or ipod. It’s getting harder to do one thing at a time when you have the option of doing eight. And it’s really hard to see the value of just being still.
I don’t want my kids to grow up in a world where there’s no time to push the pause button and reflect. And as a member of one of the last generations that remembers what life was like beforedigital technology, I see it as my duty to teach them the value of a certain kind of attention.
So instead of placing a bunch of arbitrary rules on my children’s use of technology, I talk to them. I talk to them about my own struggles to manage my relationship with my iphone and my laptop. I talk to them about my fears, but I don’t conceal the excitement I feel about all that technology is bringing to their lives.
Over the past year, we’ve posted clips and interviews on our website (www.pbsdigitalnation.org), and welcomed your contributions and feedback. Now, this coming Tuesday, February 2nd, we’re broadcasting the Digital Nation documentary on PBS. I’ll consider the film a success if people turn off the television after it’s done and argue with each other for an hour, or if they feel compelled to come online and share their opinions. After you watch next week, please come to the site and let us know your thoughts, or, your own experiences with digital life, by sharing a video or joining a roundtable discussion.
We realize how important it is to stay up to date with the latest technology, especially for parents and educators. So as social media continues to take its place in our world, we will strive to keep up. Follow us…http://twitter.com/bNetSavvy
File this under more proof that the internet age is changing the very fabric of our lives… and deaths. In all seriousness, these articles (here and here) raise a lot of questions with online privacy and the act of responsibly putting personal information online.
As you, your families, and your peers adjust to living an online world, be mindful that all of your online actions carry with them future consequences.
Just as you would with your personal information like credit cards and social security numbers make sure that your online information is also kept safely and securely.
There is an interesting article in the New York Times today about web sites that offer students help to study for exams. A similar story ran in the University of Southern California’s student newspaper.
The internet age is certainly giving students more opportunities to get help and answers. The question is, are these sites being used responsibly? No matter what, it’s clear that all parties involved, students and faculty, need to adapt to this new electronic world.
Have you been impacted by web sites that offer academic assistance? Leave us a comment and let us know.
We have all heard about Swine Flu in the past few days. This is an interesting article on social media tools (Twitter, Google, etc.) are being used to capture Swine Flu outbreaks while keeping people up-to-date and aware.
While some people are looking to be constantly kept informed, others are looking for information outside of the traditional news sources. CDC for one has embraced social media.
Have you seen any examples of social media tools being used in response to Swine Flu?
Parents are increasingly using social networks to keep kids safer online and in the real world, but sometimes you need structure to succeed, as parent Kate Mattos discovered.
I opened the drawer of my jewelry box and my stomach dropped: there was nothing in the drawer, nothing. A black hole of stolen jewelry. I checked the next drawer, and the next. They too were empty. I had been burgled.
Later that bright spring morning, the police came and took my report. That’s when I learned that there had been other burglaries in my safe, suburban neighborhood. The burglar typically struck in the morning, shortly after people had left for work. With 30 or more homes hit in the area, why had I not known?
My next step was one that would not have even been possible 15 years ago: I got on the Internet. I checked the police department Website and found a running list of burglaries in my area. I e-mailed my civic association leadership to tell them about it.
Next, I sent a note to my middle school PTA listserv. I knew that parents occasionally leave sick children home alone while they spend a few hours at work-what if the burglar entered a home with a child in it? Or a child came home early and surprised the villain in the house?
Almost as soon as I hit “send,” PTA listserv exploded. Parents were sympathetic, curious, worried. They wanted to know when it happened, what was taken, and how I was. I learned about the burglaries in an adjacent quiet leafy neighborhood-so many, in fact, that the civic association there had put out articles and held a meeting about the problem. Worried about the kids, the school principal emailed with me, noting that the school was distributing a handout urging parents to follow safety guidelines, such as ensuring that children don’t walk home alone. Teachers sent e-mails and asked how my child was handling the situation.
I was grateful for the support, but I began to notice something. Here was all this advice in a chattering listserv, but not one expert leading the discussion. What was the best way to navigate all the considerate suggestions and caring advice? No one was a home security specialist or a police officer-someone who could take all the collective concern to the next level of action and protection. No one to give us next steps and solutions.
Welcome to Democracy 2007. Make no mistake: I love the fact that at 11:00 at night I can reach out and find support. I love the power of finding out more with a click of the mouse. Networking proved to be an extraordinary way to get connected to people who really do care about me. This e-conversation was a community builder. And I did get, I think, good advice.
But I came to strongly believe that the outpouring of counsel must be tempered by expertise. I needed to learn about the best ways to protect myself and my family and about the after-effects of a burglary, the loss and deep uneasiness. I needed to know how to help my child develop the skills to stay safe. The reality is that I got that offline, from the police, a security company, and an expert at work.
I thought about my sixth-grader and the way she uses social networks. She often gets “real” information from her friends through their e-mail communications. They trade stories-some real, some
not-about what lurks on the Internet, on the streets, or in the school. No one is monitoring those conversations. No expert is there to help give facts or guide their conversations.
For many online lists and social networks, open discussion in which everyone is equal is the point-and indeed, the value. But in some cases, especially when it comes to safety (for children or adults, online or off), it can be useful to include reliable authorities to move things to the next level. Here are a few suggestions:
- Include or nominate leaders and experts who can speak with authority on certain topics and guide the discussion (reining it in if it becomes speculative or off-topic).
- Help youth understand the differences between “experts” in online forums (often well intentioned contributors) and those whose credentials can be verified and who have authority to speak to an issue.
- Remind kids that you can read their online communications. (Yes, it can be done!) Then, help to interpret speculative or faulty information.
- Place computers where you can monitor what children are doing. At home, I keep computers out of bedrooms.
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Kate Mattos is Communications Counsel for the National Education Association and the mother of an 11- year-old daughter.
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Online predators.
Many kids are eager for validation and acceptance, which makes them vulnerable to advances from predators. Nearly 20 percent of online teens say they’ve received unwanted sexual advances, according to the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. It’s a good idea to protect names, schools and addresses and to avoid posting videos and pictures, which can reveal a child’s location.
Cyber-bullying.
This can take many forms, including sending threatening or harassing emails, texts, or IMs (called “flames”), posting false information using another child’s password, or changing passwords and altering or deleting information from someone else’s site.
Academic disruption.
Social networking can be a useful academic tool, but it can also lead to problems with focus, attention, and schoolwork. A 2006 Kaiser Family Foundation report found that when students are studying on their computers, they’re actually doing something else-IMing, e-mailing, downloading files, or watching TV-65 percent of the time. Grades may suffer as social connections flourish.
Damaging content.
Any time information is transferred, there’s the risk of inadvertently downloading inappropriate files, viruses or malicious scripts that can damage a user’s computer. Teens need to know what to watch for and how to avoid the bad stuff.
Legal and financial pitfalls.
It’s also important to talk to kids about safeguarding financial information, or avoiding illegal file-sharing.
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