Internet Safety Reflection

1. What article did you choose to read for your article of choice?
I selected the article Setting Family Standards for Entertainment by Carla Dalton. I selected this article because she speaks specifically to the fact that the media and technology we have is a blessing and we simply need to choose the media that will be uplifting. I loved this article and had a great conversation with my mom about it because she and I both feel that most talks focus on the negatives saying that television and the internet are so corrupted. We both loved that Sister Dalton could see the great good in these technologies and understood that it really is about agency. We select what we watch and we monitor the choices that we make which is just what the plan would provide for us. She does however caution families and people against violence, immorality especially with the quote at the bottom from Elder Peterson that states "I plead with you to leave it alone." She says in a positive way that to do these things, we should simply be good examples to those around us. Watch movies with our family, monitor what our children do online as well as filtering what material is available. Just being active in one anothers lives is the answer to the problems of corrupted media.

2. Describe the video resources you watched?
I decided to watch FauxPaw the Techno Cat, Katie's Story, and Cybersafe your Teens on NetSafeUtah. Fauxpaw was a really fun cartoon that shows kids the dangers of the internet in a non-aggressive way. It explains many situations that students might find themselves in online at school and at home and tells what to do, like not agreeing to meet people or giving name and phone number. Katie's story was not as entertaining as FauxPaw at all. It was a real world experience of a teenager and what happened to her when she met a man online and gave him too much information. They talked on the phone and when he wanted to meet in person, her parents became suspicious and talked to police and a school counselor who suggest that they intervene. Police investigated a little and discovered that this man online was a sexual predator who was wanted for the rape of a 13 year old girl. Katie's experience allowed her to testify in the trial against him. She was very lucky that her family intervened. Cybersafe your teens was more of a formal newsreport type video. Experts on internet safety, real-life testimonials and tips for being safe were all discussed. I loved the way that there was a live audience for question and answer because a lot of the parents asked questions that I had myself. As a person who grew up in the technology age and used internet chatting services, I was not aware of a lot of these dangers until after the fact. I wish that my school had shown a video like, not that I was ever unsafe, but there were a lot of great tips that I would have followed, like not giving the name of my school.

3. Write a paragraph describing what your most important "take-aways" were from the readings and video?
From the readings and from the videos I realized that safety on the internet and with media in general is all about choice. We decide which information we give out on the internet and if we are informed we know not to give full names, phone numbers, etc. Even as adults we need to be cautious where we provide this information for identity security reasons. I also saw that choice relates to accidental viewing of media. It is our decision whether or not we stay on a pop-up page that is inappropriate or quickly close it and tell a parent or adult what we saw. It is our choice whether or not we leave the movie if it is vulgar, violent, or inappropriate. We simply need to teach our children how to make good choices by setting the example of good choices and explicitly explaining what questions are answerable online.

4. Write a paragraph or more describing the details of your "doing" experience.
I called my mom in Michigan to talk about this assignment and what I learned about internet safety and really found that she knew about chatroom safety and all of the provident living standards that are outlined online, but she and I had never discussed them. It was through our discussion that I realized this was something she and I should have talked about when I was younger. She is also a teacher and is very specific in her guidelines for computer use with her students. She has filters on all of their computers and monitors over the shoulder that they are only using the music software as she has instructed, but I cannot think of a time when I was growing up that my mom monitored my personal computer use. She did make sure that I did not have a computer in my bedroom and that it was in a main living area, but since it was a laptop, it was difficult to keep the computer on a desk where anyone could see what you were looking at. It never caused a problem, but it was funny to see how as teachers we can be so focused on good practice at school, but forget about the expectations at home.

As I talked to my mom about internet safety she was surprised to hear that the videos from the news shows here in Utah were available online. She knew that she could get information from the local news station in Michigan, but was really impressed that the experts were backed by the UEN and that they even made the resources available to a parent and teacher like her in another state. She just wishes that the information was more easily accessible without knowing who made it and all. Since she already knew a lot about the topic, she was not shocked about the tips they gave or the information in the talks about pronography, illicit materials, or any of that, she was just appreciative that a class would have us focus an entire day on the topic.

I was mostly amazed that my mom already knew this information. She is very tech savvy, but I guess I never considered that she might know more than me about good internet practice in relation to chatting. Reflecting on conversations and bets I had with friends growing up, I realized that I should have had this conversation with my mother much sooner. As a child it was not something I ever wanted to talk to her about, but it would have been smart. My senior year my friends and I created a wager, we each signed up with a different personals dating website on the free membership and our goal was to get the most awkward comment from the most inappropriate person back on our profiles. Now, looking back at it, that was a really dumb idea. We were all over 18 so these sites were available to us, but that did not mean they were safe. Many of us received crude comments about our physique even though the pictures we posted had us dressed in modest clothing. The person who won the wager was propositioned to meet an 82 year old man for a "good time." Had I communicated more with my mother I would have known that setting up an account like that was not smart and not safe. I shared this story with my mom and she said that she wanted to share it with my sisters so that they could be more cautious when talking to my school aged nieces and nephews about internet safety. She also said that she regrets not knowing about that account at the time. She would have blocked me from the site had she known. As a disclaimer, I will say that none of us gave out our phone numbers and none of us met with the men who sent us messages, but if someone had slipped up, it could have been disastrous.