Kids and Online Social Networks

Written by Carrie Pacini on May 6, 2009 – 6:21 am -

OK, so I had “The Talk” over the weekend with my 7 year old son and 16 year old nephew, and I have to say, having The Talk was not hard at all!

 
They both seemed more than willing to share all of this great information with me, and it was a nice experience learning more about their online activities and about their lives!

Interview with my 7 year old son:

1. What are your friends doing online? They like Webkinz, iCarly, and BrainPOP


2. What are the coolest or newest websites? BrainPOP


3. Show me your favorite sites! We spent time on BrianPOP watching a video about the Swine Flu.


4. Ask about cyberbullying. He didn’t know what this word was. When I described it he said that hasn’t happened to him


5. When you’ve been online, have you ever seen anything weird or that made you feel uncomfortable? He doesn’t like really loud music on a site

Interview with my 16 year old Nephew:

1. What are your friends doing online? Streetfire, Searching for Cars, Music on Youtube


2. What are the coolest or newest websites? I just discovered a site that people comment about their hectic life.


3. Show me your favorite sites! We didn’t do this, we talked about Youtube


4. Ask about cyberbullying. No I have never dealt or seen my friends deal with Cyberbullying.


5. When you’ve been online, have you ever seen anything weird or that made you feel uncomfortable? Yes, I search for something and all kinds of things pop up.


6. Do you really know everybody on your friends list? Yes, I know everyone on my friend list but I don’t really use facebook that much. My sister who is 20 and in college uses Facebook to stay  connected with my mom and friends from school.


7. Do you ever get messages from strangers? How do you handle them? No, but my sister has and she just doesn’t respond to them.


8. Do you know anyone who’s gone to meet someone offline they’d been talking to online? No


9. Are people in your group of friends ever mean to each other online or on phones? No


10. What do they say? No, everyone jokes around but it isn’t serious or meant to be mean.


11. Have they ever been mean to you? Would you tell me if they were? No, like I said we joke around nothing is meant to be taken seriously.


12. Sometimes kids take nude or sexy photos and send them to others. Has that ever happened at your school? It has happened to a friend of mine. He would get photos from other girls from other schools but that was last year. That type of activity is mostly happening at the middle school level.

My Observation:

My son who will be 8 soon, wants to explore more online to learn. When he has a question about something he brings it to me and we do the research together. We are setting up a computer area for the kids with OnlineFamily.Norton . The service will grow with him as he gets older. We will be able to adjust the settings and continue to monitor his online activity.  Check out the features.

As for my nephew, he seemed to be honest with me about the sites he visits and how he uses them. I found it interesting that neither he nor his friends really use Facebook. They do have an account but never use it. He also stressed that he wants to delete his MySpace Account and doesn’t want to be a part of that network. I find it interesting that they are finding smaller niche sites like www.streetfire.com that has their interests. He also mentioned that they would also play XBOX Live and socialize with other friends while playing the game.

I think that these two examples represent both ends of the spectrum in kids learning the Internet. On one hand, you have an older boy who is getting more savvy in the ways of the Web (probably more so than he’d admit to his aunt), and he is starting to get a sense of where the risks lie. On the other hand, you have a boy half his age who is just embarking on the learning process with the Web, and is a clean slate to instruct in safe online behavior. One represents the product of involved, watchful parenting and good lessons; the other needs nothing more than a lot of hands-on involvement and instruction. So from what I learned from these conversations, the 7-14 age range is a key period in making sure the important lessons are taught about Web safety. Before this time, it’s unlikely that the message will be received or understood. And much beyond that age, it’s likely that the habits or risk perceptions are pretty well established. But we’ll find out. During the rest of this series, I’ll be speaking with other moms and testing that theory. Stay tuned!

 

 


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