The Importance of Surfing Lessons

 

The Importance of Surfing Lessons

The children are the future. They are the legacy of the men and women of today’s society. With that being said, we must be cautious of what we allow them to digest, both figuratively and literally. Technological advances have become the norm for children growing in contemporary societies. They are learning how to process information at a much faster rate than their parents. Many children are first introduced to the internet by their parents, usually with games on their phones or tablets. The internet provides them with the ability to expand their reality exponentially. They can virtually visit foreign lands and discover cultures previously unknown. Information is at their fingertips and schools have taken part by introducing computers into the curriculum. Children at many public schools are loaned laptop computers; these computers are necessary to take full advantage of the curriculum. With technology reaching into almost all facets of our children’s lives, it is necessary to ensure they have a full understanding of the threats they may encounter online. Predators are real and they are out there. Our children are utilizing technology at all ages so we must be able to effectively communicate the threats and pitfalls to each age group, effectively. Teens face different threats than younger children and vice versa. We must be vigilant in our efforts to monitor and teach safe and proper use of the internet.

Cyber Awareness

It’s important for your teen or tween to understand that not everyone that seems nice on the internet actually is, or more importantly has their best interest in mind. The message should be clear, there are people that would pretend to be close to you in order to lure you to them. It shouldn’t be to instill fear, but to thoroughly inform. “More than inspiring fear in our kids, we want to arm them with information. So when you talk to your kid, tell them there’s a chance someone could approach them online to get personal information, exchange pictures, and/or meet in person, and it might be someone who feels like an online friend”. (Elgersma, 2017) The dangers are real, and they need to understand that, but the internet is also a place of wonder, to be enjoyed and explored by young minds that will one day be our societal leaders. There are also other things on the internet your teen should be informed about that can be harmful, such as cyberbullying. “Cyberbullying is bullying with the use of digital technologies. It can take place on social media, messaging platforms, gaming platforms and mobile phones. It is repeated behavior, aimed at scaring, angering or shaming those who are targeted”. (UNICEF, n.d.) As some of us may remember, being a teenager can be a difficult time for some. There are social minefields to maneuver, and your hormones are exploding. This can be a recipe for disaster. Now, add the element of social media. Before, you could get a break from the jokes or the foul words you may have experienced in school when you got home. With social media, it's like a non-stop news cycle. A teenager may not be emotionally mature enough to understand how to appropriately handle a situation like this; this is where parents come in. It’s better to know that this kind of behavior is out there, and understand it, before it happens.

Technology and School

The pandemic made 2020 a year of resiliency, flexibility, and transition. Across the board, things looked differently at the end of the year than they did at the beginning; education was no different. A Washington Post article questions how impactful COVID-19 was on the new look of education. “The coronavirus pandemic upended almost every aspect of school at once. It was not just the move from classrooms to computer screens. It tested basic ideas about instruction, attendance, testing, funding, the role of technology and the human connections that hold it all together”. (St. George, 2021) Computers in the classroom didn’t begin when COVID upended our country, but it absolutely made them an integral component in education in the aftermath. A whole generation of students became online learners’ mid-year. As a student that has taken courses online and in-person, I’ve found that my online courses have routinely been more rigorous. Students of all ages were asked to take learning into there own hands. Parents were involved, and teachers did their best to convey meaningful lessons while dealing with their own quarantine related issues; it ultimately came down to the students. If they were uninterested, it was evident and, in some cases, it was difficult to pique their interest. The lack of face-to-face interaction made it harder for teachers to re-engage students that were slipping farther behind and easier for students to make excuses for their shortcomings. However, there were systems that thrived in the remote setting and have continued some or all that learning method. “School systems in America are not done with remote learning. They want more of it. After a year when some systems did nothing but school by computer screen, it has become clear that learning virtually has a place in the nation’s schools, if simply as an option”. (St. George, 2021)

At Home

My kids are in two different groups of online activity. My two oldest are dealing in differing areas of the social media space and my youngest regularly visits YouTube Kids. Of course, my wife and I do our best to monitor everything that she sees but I heavily rely on YouTube Kids’ safeguards and content protection. With my older two it’s a bit more difficult to monitor what they are doing online. I have friended them on a couple of their platforms but not all. We make sure that we all have a good understanding of what is and isn’t ‘okay’ for this household. They know not to meet with anyone they meet online and to let me know if anyone asks them to meet. They also know not to give any personal information or money to anyone asking. It’s a constant conversation but it’s one that must happen. We have to protect our children.

 

References

Elgersma, Christine. 2017. Parents, here’s the truth about online predators. CNN Health. Retrieved on October 9, 2022, from https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/03/health/online-predators-parents-partner/index.html.  

St. George, Donna, Strauss, Valerie, Meckler, Laura, Heim, Joe, and Natanson, Hannah. 2021. How the pandemic is reshaping education. The Washington Post. Retrieved on October 9, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/03/15/pandemic-school-year-changes/.

UNICEF. n.d. Cyberbullying: What is it and how to stop it. UNICEF. Retrieved on October 9, 2022, from https://www.unicef.org/end-violence/how-to-stop-cyberbullying.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Are we Currently Watching the Death of Newspapers or the Re-invention of the Print Industry?

I was asked an interesting question this week; are we currently watching the death of newspapers or the re-invention of the print industry? What do you think? There are different metrics we can use to attempt to quantify the current level of success achieved by newsrooms across the country as a whole. We can look at newspaper sales, we can look at customer satisfaction surveys and we can even speak about our own personal accounts and opinions. The Pew Center is a think tank that compiles data regarding trends and attitudes towards many different facets of life. They are a non-partisan organization that has done some of the work for us. "More than eight-in-ten U.S. adults (86%) say they get news from a smartphone, computer or tablet “often” or “sometimes,” including 60% who say they do so often". (Shearer, 2021) Eighty-six percent is a staggering number. To put it into better context, television was 68%, radio was 50% and print was the low man on the totem pole coming in at 32...
Read more

The Understated Importance of the Social Media Sensei

  The Understated Importance of the Social Media Sensei I am a self-taught social media user. I would rate myself as an intermediate skill level on Facebook and a beginner level in pretty much everything else. I am also a 44-year-old Army Recruiter in the twilight of his military career. I am obligated to use social media for prospecting efforts in recruiting and I do not have a highly successful rate of return from that form of prospecting. Recruiters receive blocks of instruction to show uses and best practices but many of us are stubborn and stuck in our ways. I am among the stubborn, but I am also aware enough to realize that this is the future of business. If I go into marketing, public relations, emergency management or any of many other career paths, they would all involve some form of social media management at the professional level. This is something that is only going to grow and become more of the norm as organizations come to realize the importance of social media ma...
Read more

Do Your Own Due Diligence

  Do Your Own Due Diligence                ‘Trust me bro’ , is a phrase used in the world of financial vloggers that describes an individual making a claim with no supporting evidence. Now, the fact that this individual does not provide any supporting evidence doesn’t necessarily mean that what he or she is saying is invalid, but it doesn’t help them in the credibility department. There are reasons for sources to not be directly cited. The information may have come from a whistleblower with firsthand knowledge, but this person does not want the organization to know that they are the potential leak; their identity would be considered protected information. There could be an issue of personal safety that calls for discretion but it’s imperative that the news gets out to the public, this could be a reason as well. If there is no official, legitimate reason, and no source is conveyed upon request, it’s highly like...
Read more