The Mistakes Kids Make Online

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From social networking to text messaging, teaching kids to stay Internet safe

On the one hand, today’s technology – particularly the Internet and cell phones – provides kids wonderful opportunities to learn, recreate, and communicate. On the other, it also provides the means for kids to make and compound mistakes, some of which can lead to trouble. The kinds of mistakes we’re talking about are mostly errors in judgment, some large, some small, but all of them things you should think about.

Anti-social Networking

As social networks such as MySpace and Facebook have become increasingly popular, the mistakes kids make on them have increased too.
Too much personal information – According to the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), 74 percent of social networking users reveal personal information, including their email addresses, names, and birthdays which can lead to identity theft and/or threats to their safety. Case in point: a student included her real name and birthday on her Facebook profile. Another student used that information to access her iTunes account, change her password, and purchase music from iTunes, then iPods from the Apple Store.
Revealing pictures – A common mistake kids make on social networking sites is posting revealing pictures of themselves or friends on their pages, which, when combined with too much personal information can cause serious reputation problems.
Fake profiles – A group of teenage boys created a MySpace page of a fictitious 15-year-old-girl hoping to cheer up a friend who had broken up with his girlfriend. Before long, a 48-year-old man sent inappropriate messages to the fictitious girl and tried to meet her. The boys turned him in to authorities. In another case, a teenager was arrested after creating a fake MySpace page featuring one of his teachers.
Party time – In England, a sixth grade girl announced a party on MySpace. Intended for a few friends, the announcement was hacked and several hundred people showed up and trashed her parent’s house while they were out of town.

Text Messaging

Let’s start with cell phones and text messaging. Many kids in 5th grade and beyond have their own cell phones. They text a lot and they text everywhere. They text in class under their desks and behind books. They text in bed at night. Teens even text while driving.
Texting while driving – Recently, as a teen was texting his girlfriend while driving, his car crossed the centerline and collided head on with a cement truck. He survived but suffered permanent injuries. A recent study by the Allstate Foundation found that almost 10 percent of teens don’t think that texting while driving is distracting and another 10 percent think it’s only "slightly distracting." Hmmm. If your teen has a cell phone and a car, perhaps a conversation is in order.
Texting in class – As any teacher can tell you, kids texting in class is a real problem, too. Obviously, it distracts them from learning and it can lead to other problems including cyber bullying, and passing test answers. A math junior high teacher recently noticed that almost half her class had given the same wrong answer to a test question. The answer had been disseminated in a text message.
Texting in the dark  – Sometimes, the desire to text is greater than the desire to sleep. Kids have been known to text in bed after the lights go out. Usually all they lose is sleep, but sometimes they lose more. In one case, a teenage girl texting at night was lured into a sexual relationship with a 34-year-old internet predator, who is now under arrest.

Research or Plagiarism?

As anyone who has ever written a research report knows, it’s hard to put the findings of your research into your own words. It’s especially hard when Google or Wikipedia helps with the research and all you have to do is copy and paste your findings to make a report. And it’s more common than you think. For example, a high school biology teacher in the U.S. failed 28 of 118 students for plagiarizing on a research assignment.

What’s a Parent to Do?

As parents, our job is to pay close attention to what our kids are doing with the technology we make available to them. We have to talk to them about the mistakes that can be made. And we have to be vigilant. Here are a few tips.
Social Networking – Ask to see your kids’ social networking profile and page. Make sure it doesn’t include revealing personal information or pictures. You can also Google your child’s name and see what comes up. Remember, your child can easily create one “clean” profile for your eyes while maintaining a second, more personal MySpace page. That’s why the conversation about personal information and online safety is likely more important than your personal inspection of their accounts.
Texting – If your kids have cell phones, you should know where, when, how often, and with whom they “text?” If asking them doesn’t answer those questions, your cell phone bill will. You can see with whom they text and when. If you don’t like what you see, consider curtailing their phone use and/or blocking inappropriate numbers.
Plagiarism – Teachers have access to Web sites that help them detect plagiarism. You don’t have to go that far. If you see something in your kids’ research reports that doesn’t sound like they wrote it, ask them about it. Also, a Google search on a suspect phrase, sentence, or paragraph will usually turn up the source of plagiarized text. Remind your children before they begin a paper or research project of the importance of turning in original work. Most schools have serious punishment such as suspension for anyone found to be plagiarizing their work.
In other words, being a good parent who talks to your kids is the best way to keep your kids from making mistakes with technology. Using the technology yourself to help you keep an eye on them isn’t a bad idea either.