Safety in a Digital World

Our areas of concern for kid’s safety are expanding as the world is more connected. Whether it is through Facebook or another social networking site, our kids, even our grown kids, are interacting with people they MAY never meet and we almost certainly WILL never meet.

 Their first line of strength in this complex world is the confidence they have already developed. When taunting or bullying occurs your kid needs to recognize his own self worth. Hopefully you have talked with them about this from a very early age. There will be people who just don’t like them for reasons that may never be understood, prepare your kid by talking about this not once, but repeatedly. This may make it easier for them to talk with you when it happens.

 Likewise your kid must understand why he must show respect for those around them. Here again you are the critical teacher with early and frequent conversations and behaviors that model acceptance of people’s differences.

 Following the recent tragedy at Rutgers the urgency of frequent and public conversations about hate, intimidation and respect is once again before us. 

 “We are tempted to think that social-media technology drove the behavior, but as a truly ethical matter, the behavior has to be and should be considered human-driven, not technology-driven,” says Scott Foulkrod, a philosophy professor at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania.

 That lesson in ethics is embodied in all the years of talking and doing now they need to experience the world. Teaching your kids not to post foolish, offensive or incriminating photos on Facebook is only the beginning. As parents we have never experienced the digital reality and exposure with which our kids live. An open laptop on the desk maybe broadcasting every activity in the room to the world, is your kid prepared to be seen and heard?

~Jean