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To all Parishioners, parents & grandparents & PI, SOZO youth
A message from Miss Terri
Educate:
Internet safety is a hot topic and often times our children seem to be more quick than we are about learning the ins and outs of just about everything. I want to take some time to share some of the things that I have learned recently that effect children and adults of our parish. I wanted to enlighten parents as well as students. Most of us are well aware that the internet provides an area of secrecy about identity and stalking. In the past, Medina County had officers that helped to patrol the internet, due to economics, this is no longer a running program. Currently the only time that the police/sheriff get involved is if there is a concrete meeting scheduled between a minor and an adult and you have alerted them. Most of us know that by that time it is too late.
Many of us use the internet daily and it is important that we are aware of how to protect ourselves and our children. Children as well as adults often trust that the people that they encounter online are innocent or that there is no way for them to find us. It is important to recognize the dangers and educate ourselves and our children about protecting their identity.
Children from young ages join websites like Webkinz, Club Penguin, or Runescape. Often they make up an ID that is associated with their name. I would encourage all families to come up with an ID for them that doesn’t relate to a name or address. Instead choose a favorite food or pet’s name. Children need to be aware that just because the “avatar” on their computer screen says that they are “10 years old” doesn’t necessarily mean that it is true. Sometimes you may have to prove this to them. (setting up your own account may help)
Communicate:
Let your child know that they can talk with you about anything that they encounter online or through texting. Often children feel they will get in trouble if parents find out what they have been doing online. It is important to let them know that sometimes we get angry about a situation and that doesn’t mean we are angry with them. They must know that it is safe to communicate with you about the truth of their online encounters.
Parents are encouraged to write down the websites that their children visit or are members of and keep a record of their user ID and Passwords.
EMAIL:
Monitor their email, ask questions about who their contacts are and be aware of instant messaging. Children often will add people that are linked from someone else that they know to their accounts and not know very much about the person at all.
WEBSITES:
Sites like Youtube can provide great entertainment. It is important to recognize that the guidelines are pretty lose regarding what can be posted. Students can create an ID and upload videos of themselves not realizing the risks. An example I have encountered was a 5th grader making an innocent video and she didn’t realize that she was standing in front of her house and right by the mailbox so her address was completely visible.
MYSPACE is considered a more risky site than FACEBOOK. Recently however, FB changed their privacy settings and made things very open. Photos if not secured are open to the entire world. While FB users were notified many of us didn’t notice the small print that they had unlocked photo albums.
I would encourage students and parents to review their privacy settings on FB to ensure who can see what information. The privacy settings should be set to FRIENDS ONLY for almost everything. Do not allow others to “tag” you in photos or videos without your approval. While this is fun to do it can lead to pictures being posted without your knowledge.
Parents should monitor the applications that are being used on the childs FB account. There are some “adult” applications that you may not want your child to get involved with. Be aware that when they play the games they are often encountering and instant messaging other people that are not on their friends list.
All pages are printable and therefore photos can be tampered with, scanned and re-uploaded.
I would also strongly suggest that as a Blogger or FB user you delete posts older than a month. While it is fun to go back and see what we did, often times we don’t realize that a year has passed and all of it is recorded in cyberspace. This will take some time but it is time well spent. After a few months we rarely remember the context of some things that we might have posted.
PROTECT:
Monitoring your child’s use of the internet is key. Education is power and lead by example. Explain why you feel it is important to keep them safe and yourself safe. There are many programs that you can use that block certain things as being allowable for your computer, there is also software that you can purchase to help with this.
Here are some websites that are available to learn more about internet safety:
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.Thanks!
Terri Paolucci 330-483-3808 ext 233 email tpaolucci@stmartinvc.org or at cinderellangus@yahoo.com