Internet Safety

This is a very important topic to me since i have three daughters, and its a toss up whether they spend more time in the bathroom or on the computer. I watched the two videos in the syllabus for internet safety.  The first was geared toward middle and high school ages while the second was more basic and elementary.  My gut feeling watching both of these videos is that I dont think they go far enough as far as demonstrating the final end game of internet predators.  the one for the older kids does state in one slide that kids can get raped, kidnapped, and murdered, but it is only one flash slide.  that is the most important thing and they should have hammered it home more.  Im not sure i like the medium in which it was presented either.  the idea of just flashing slides up to music from Rocky 2 was not engaging to me and it is doubtful that it would hold the attention of today's teenagers.  

the video for younger children simply was not threatening enough.  There was a nice calm soothing voice telling children to beware, but I would rather have seen it way more threatening.  If a stranger came to your door, would you let him in?  If a stranger called and said to meet him some place, would you go?  those parallels needed to be drawn to better illustrate the danger and finality of a decision made on the net.

It is hard to police and one thing that is not discussed at all in the videos in parent responsibility: Know what your kid is doing on the internet, know who they are talking to, and know what sites they visit.  There are imbedded programs you can by that monitors IM conversations and while some might say its spying, others will say it is just good parenting.