Make children aware of the Internet’s dangers and encourage them to let you know about cyber harassment
Priyanka Gupta
The Internet is a double-edged sword, as much a blessing as a burden.To keep children safe, teachers and parents have to work together to ensure that children are using the
Internet in a safe manner.
The first and foremost thing is for educators to understand the ethical use of the Internet and abide by the digital citizenship rules themselves. To keep children safe, one needs to be aware of all the right (to help them abide by the same) and wrong (to identify threats) practices.
A Set Curriculum: It is essential to have a set curriculum to educate children on the use of Internet. Talk to the authorities and try to get things in place within the school. When the use of Internet is widespread, we end up restricting its use for the fear of children
misusing it or being harmed by it.
Get familiar with new technologies: This is one of the most important things you can do as a teacher. Be aware of everything the children are using. Use social media websites and learn the scope of the opportunities and threats. During your discussions with students, talk about your experiences and ask them to be aware of the things they are exposed to. Assure them that they can reach out to you for help. The horrific consequences of the game Blue Whale are still fresh in memory. Conduct seminars and educate parents on the pros and cons of the issue.
Change in behaviour: This is more common among teens. If you observe a sudden change in behaviour – children not speaking much, staying away from the family members, staying distant in class and not participating in activities, staying alone – it could be because someone is harassing them online or maybe because they are involved in some inappropriate activity on the Net. Ensure that you are in touch with parents not just to discuss the students’ grades and performance but also to communicate these changes. Discuss the child’s behaviour at home and with peers about the child’s online activity and presence.
Appropriate use policy: This aspect can be a little difficult. Children use the Internet not just at school but at home, at their friends’ places and on their phones, which means anywhere they feel like. So try to have an appropriate use policy in place. This policy should list all the dos and don’ts that your students must abide by. Also, encourage parents to have set rules at home. These can be the limitation on screen time and not allowing the
child to use Internet privately. Have parental controls on devices as well as limit the data they use. It is important that the activity is monitored by some adult.
Let the children know: You cannot expect children to know all about the pitfalls of technology just because they feel “it’s their thing”. While they may not fully understand the consequences of revealing personal information online, you should still make sure they know:
• Never to give their name, phone number, e-mail address, password, postal address,
school name or picture without teacher/parent permission
• Not to open e-mail from people they don’t know without permission
• Not to respond to hurtful or disturbing messages
• Not to get together with anyone they “meet” online
• To always let parent or teacher know immediately if they find something scary or
threatening on the Internet
• Dealing with pressures
Understand that children get influenced by others and that there is peer pressure to contend with as well. Make sure you establish mutual trust so that if something happens they can approach you without any hesitation or fear. If something concrete comes to the surface, deal with it in a way that the child does not hesitate to tell you about similar incidents recurring or happening to anyone else.
Have a conversation: It’s important that your student knows what your expectations are,
understands the basics of Internet safety, and feels comfortable talking to you about problems and concerns. Host discussions to talk to students frequently about things they are curious about. The hesitation to ask can lead them to the wrong sources of information. This is one major reason why students get exposed to pornography at an early age. What children see on the screen stays on their mind for long. Teach children about pornography, exploitative content, excessive violence and other issues that concern you so that they know how they have to respond when they see it.
Reinforcing the message: Share informative resources with students as well as parents.
Despite discussions and talks, there is a possibility that students may not take you seriously. You can always share videos and other web resources to reinforce the importance of the issue as well as the consequences of their doings. Also, there are web-based games such as Digizen and Webonauts that will help them understand about cyberbullying
and Internet etiquette.
Caring about sharing: Teach them about the impact they are making every time they share anything online. It is important that students understand that everything they share online affects the minds and lives of the people who see it. Not only that, teach them that they also leave a digital footprint that reveals what kind of person they are in the offline world. Teach them that they must think before they share.
