Around 43 per cent of people with internet access have online ‘friends’ they have never met in real life (Kaspersky Lab, 2011).
Although the Internet is a great way to interact socially with friends and family and is also a great educational tool, it has opened up a whole new world, allowing information and connections to be sourced in ways unimaginable a few years ago. However the Internet can be a dangerous place. Parents and teachers are often unaware of online dangers and it is important for them to find out what the most significant online dangers are and how to deal with them.
Some of the significant online dangers include:
Cyber bullying: This includes threats, insults and other malicious behaviour that is spread across the Internet by email/instant messaging/social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter.
Inappropriate content: This varies depending on age/network/parents etc, however inappropriate content tends to refer to sites that contain unsuitable content for children This can refer to pornography, gun sites, drug taking etc.
Data Theft: Children my unknowingly have personal information displayed about themselves and their family, making it easier for online predators to access information about them.
Predators: This is probably the most worrying and is the most talked about online danger. Predators typically pretend to be a young person and befriend another young person through the Internet and then gather personal information about them.
Whilst many children are more than capable of using computer and Internet technology, they don’t always understand the online dangers that are around and the implications that they can have. Therefore children who are online users should be warned about this for their own personal safety and to put parents and teachers minds a bit more at ease.
I agree that children don't always understand the online dangers. They also don't understand the consequences of some of their actions. On the news tonight there was a case of a 16 yr old boy who encouraged teenage girls to strip on webcam and he posted the images on the internet. Those images will be out there forever. Because of this boys actions a number of people's lives have been ruined therefore the need for education at a young age.
ReplyDeleteI know as teachers we have a lot to cover from the Curriculum, however another area should be added as a compulsory KLA and that is Digital Safety as we have seen from the media how important it is to get the message out there.
Nikki, this is a good list of key online dangers. Recent research suggests cyberbullying is the issue most commonly experienced by young people, with data theft looming as a major issue in the near future.
ReplyDeleteNikki,you did a great work!This list is very useful for us.It helps to protect our children from the internet.
ReplyDeleteOnline Predators