Module 2 Connect.ed

I knew it would be low but I was surprised at the figure of only 9% of cyberbully victims report to their parents (as revealed as a statistic on latest Connect.ed module)

Primary school students on facebook – I know of a girl who, with the help of her mum had a facebook account. Because non of her friends had an account her social group consisted of her aunties and uncles and her mums friends. She actually found out about toothfairy on FB as she saw a post about a mums absentmindedness. This is the issue with children accessing a technology that is aimed at an older aged market.

The following advice was given in module 2 of Connect.ed training:

Students can:

• block senders in chat rooms and social networking sites
• change their social networking profiles
• keep passwords secret and mobile numbers private
• not reply to nasty messages and/or block the sender if they are in a contact list
• if the bullying persists, tell someone they trust
• help them to list trusted people
• keep any hostile messages sent by IM or SMS, print out any text, web content or emails and keep links to web pages or user names in IM
• use website reporting tools to report cyberbullying
• visit the Cybersmart Online Helpline for free and confidential online counselling or call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800

I would like to use this as a checklist for social media readiness…. These points proceeded by “Can your child…..”  If you child has the skills and maturity to put these into practice they may be ready for an account. We need to make sure our kids have atleast some skills to combat cyber-bullying before they go out there. Maderson reflects on this also.