PTA Technology Corner

The topic of conversation among friends has increasingly turned to what our kids are doing online - probably because some think of me as “the geek in town” or they know I have a technology blog to help educate parents. One research study and one television report came out yesterday that might make you as a parent think about this subject even more.

One of my favorite research companies, the Pew Internet and American Life Project, has done some very interesting studies on technology and the family. Yesterday they released a report “Parents and Teen Internet Use” that contained some interesting information you might want to know:

• 59% of parents think the Internet is a good thing for their children (down from 67% in 2004)
• 88% of teens said that the Internet and their use of other communication devices make their lives easier (only 69% of parents agreed)
• 65% of parents check up on their teens’ Internet use (what websites they visit, what IM conversations they are having, etc.)
• 77% of parents have a rule about what their children can do online

As a parent, we’re careful to balance giving our children the freedom to explore while being sure to protect them from what we consider inappropriate content, discussions or posting online.

But I never really stopped to think about what they do online and how it could impact me as a parent. I sometimes wonder if parents know what their children post on their Facebook pages when I come across some rather racy pictures or language that probably would shock many parents. Then I came across this story, The Parent Trap, from a television station in Milwaukee, WI.

It seems that 16 year old Shannon posts frequently on her social networking site. But today’s teenagers don’t have the same sense of privacy as their elders (that’s you and me folks!). It seems Shannon not only discusses her nagging mom, but also the fact her dad does drugs and her parents are lazy alcoholics. And now dad is in trouble with his boss.

“It’s important to know what they’re doing and to be able to help them if they get into trouble. And to keep them safe and, apparent, now we have to have them keep us safe as well.” Good advice from Shannon’s mom to all of us.

A report was released today by the Pew Internet and American Life Project (a favorite research firm of mine) called “Teens and online stranger contact report” that I encourage you to read (a PDF download is available at the site). It outlines experiences teens have online with strangers. Only 7% of those asked said they had contact with a stranger that made them feel scared or uncomfortable. That probably 7% more than you and I as parents would like.

This has led to more school districts running events on how to protect your children online. I’ll be participating on a panel at the high school in our town next month on social networking. I’ll outline what to look for, how to teach your children what is right and wrong behavior online, and even how to participate and encourage your children in using various online social networking tools.

In discussing this with parents in our town, I learned that parents in general are very nieve to what their children do online. Most have never used Facebook or MySpace, few IM or text message (unless it is from their child, and then it’s usually responded to by a phone call from the parent since T9 text messaging is foreign to many adults). So that prompted me to propose a workshop for all of the elementary schools in our town to bring parents up to speed. From the response I got that night I proposed it to the PTA board, I think we’ll be doing this soon.

My point is this - you can’t protect or teach your children about appropriate online behavior unless you’ve participated yourself. Ask what social networking site your child uses - for the younger ones it’s probably Webkinz or Club Penguin. For the older ones it’s probably MySpace or more likely Facebook. Get yourself an account. Learn what they can do. Connect with your child online. Be involved in their online world.

The more you know, the better your children will be. Happy surfing!

This week marked the first guilty verdict won by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against illegal downloading. A Minnesota woman was accused of sharing songs through a popular file-sharing network and was found guilty and fined $220,000.

The reason I bring this up to parents of grade schoolers is that while companies like Apple, Microsoft and Amazon have made it easy and relatively cheap to buy and download digital music online, many children feel it is their right to download and share for free music with their friends (and the rest of the world). What they don’t understand (but you need to) is that it is relatively easy for the RIAA to track down illegal music sharing online.

How do they do this? Each computer is assigned a unique number - called an IP address - when it goes online. The major internet service providers have been more than willing to share that information with the government and organizations like the RIAA when potentially illegal activity is suspected. The woman found guilty this week was sharing music from her home computer and even used her email address as her user ID on the file sharing network.

Two things I’ll suggest to you to help avoid this from happening to you and your family:

1. Make sure you do not have any file sharing software on your computers at home - Limewire and Kazaa are the two most popular file sharing software. Talk with your kids about illegal music sharing and explain the risks to them (it might to indicate that the woman found guilty this week was fined over $9,000 per song she shared online!)
2. Be sure to secure your wireless network at home. Turn off the broadcast ID or encrypt your wireless router with a password (see my blog post “Secure Your Wireless Network” for details). The reason for this is while you may not be illegally downloading music and sharing it online, if your wireless network is open, others in your neighborhood may be using it for illegal activity and could potentially be liable for their activities.

In a previous post (”Timeshifting. You’re In Control.“) we discussed podcasts. Apple recently mentioned that they have over 125,000 podcast “shows” available on the iTunes network. And did I mention they are all FREE!

I listen to lots of podcasts about technology, news, travel and education. But one in particular I’d like to recommend to all parents - it’s called “Jumping Monkeys” and is produced by a popular technology guru, Leo Laporte and hosted by Megan Marrone. They discuss technology and parenting that is down to earth, fun and informative. A new show is posted every other week or so and includes interviews and a very interesting segment called “Spend, Save and Give”.

To learn more, go to the Jumping Monkeys webpage or directly to iTunes to subscribe for free.

If you have podcasts that you like to listen to that you would like to share with other parents, let us know by submitting a comment. Happy listening!