Steps You Can Take Now
to Educate Your Students About Social Safety

Your students use the web at school, for projects and research, in supervised surroundings on protected computers.  But what happens when they go home for the day?  The average teenager spends more time on the internet then they do in front of the TV, in excess of two hours a day.  Have you given your students the tools they need to protect themselves online?

If you haven’t already begun, here are some places to start.

• Teach students to evaluate what they read on the web just as they would evaluate what they read in a newspaper or book.  The internet is a warren of misinformation, inaccurate sourcing and misleading content.  Your students need to know how to tell what’s good from what’s bad.

• Conduct classes on internet safety awareness, just as you would on drugs or self defense.  One in five adolescents has been sexually solicited online.  Make sure your students can handle themselves in this dangerous online world.

• Review internet etiquette, and what’s appropriate behavior online. Do they use proper netiquette?  Keep your students from becoming cyberbullies, trolls and griefers by showing them how to behave online.

• Review what your students can post online safely, and what they should never post or tell a stranger in a chat room or message board. 

If schools and parents work together, the internet may become a safer place for our children to explore and grow.