| |   Contact   |  Home
space
For Parents
space

Media and Technology

Our children and youth are exposed daily to media messages from television, movies, music and the Internet. Parents play a critical role in monitoring viewing, and helping children interpret and understand these images and messages.

Internet and cell phone messaging systems are fast replacing telephones as the preferred mode of communication and commerce. Unfortunately, with this change come increased dangers from cyber bullies, predators, cyber theft, and other criminals. The most vulnerable to these dangers are children.

National PTA offers several tips on how parents can protect their children.


i-Safe Training Program Keeps Children Safe from the On-line Dangers

Thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, i-Safe America has developed an easy to use program for use in schools across the country to educate children and their parents about the dangers of the Internet and how to stay safe. Available free of charge through the i-Safe web site (www.isafe.org), i-safe will provide schools with in-class student curricula and presentations, parent education (Power Point) presentations, and i-Safe CDs that can be distributed to all parents for use at home.

Cyber Bullying Education WE ALL need!!!

by Pat Giuliani, Georgia PTA Youth Service Chair

On March 26, 2008, Peachford Hospital and Georgia PTA teamed up to bring an adult education program on Cyber Bullying to Georgia parents. There were only eight parents in the room, but the information provided needs to be heard by all parents of children. Below are a few points shared during the parents Cyber Bullying program.

 

Cyber Bullying is using the Internet or other digital devices to send or post negative messages, images, or video clips about others. It is a form of emotional bullying (sometimes referred to as relational aggression) that causes feelings of fear, isolation, and humiliation among its targets. Research shows that traditional bullying can seriously affect the mental and physical health of children along with interfering with their academic work. Preliminary research suggests that children who experience cyber bullying may have similar experience and this may be intensified since cyber bullying can occur 24/7.

 

One of a parent's biggest challenge today is simply knowing what children are doing while plugged into the Internet, which is often hours at a time. In fact, sixty-two percent of online teens say that most teens do things online that they wouldn't want their parents to know about. A majority of parents (sixty-five percent) feel they could do a better job supervising their children's media use.

 

Parents need to discuss cyber bullying with their children as part of their regular discussion about Internet Safety and appropriate use of technologies. Here are some sites for you to review and look over with your child when discussing cyber bullying:

www.cyberbullyhelp.com , www.netsmartz.org , www.connectsafely.org , www.isafe.org

 

If your child has or is being a victim of cyber bullying do not take the Internet away from them or close down their IM. That is their social networking site. Instead ask your child to come to you when the bullying happens; make a copy of the message; if you are comfortable in doing so, contact the perpetrator's parents and share your evidence or take evidence to school counselor. Report the cyber bullying to the police or cyber crime units in your local area if the bullying contains, threats, intimidation or sexual exploitation. If a fake or offensive profile targets your child on a social networking site, report it to the site. Links can be found under the HELP sections of many websites.

 

 

 

Copyright ©2006, 2007 Georgia PTA | Privacy Policy | Permissions Policy