Hi Mrs. Feldman,
I have two daughters, 10 and 12. My 12 year old daughter recently reconnected with a friend she knew from 3rd grade and we took her to the movies with us 2 weekends ago. When I told one of my friends about the outing she pulled me aside and showed me the girl’s Facebook page. I was shocked to see the pictures of this little 12 year old girl. I thought I was looking at a men’s magazine. I cannot get the images out of my mind. This school is academically strong and is big on taking children to cultural events that otherwise these kids would not be exposed to but nobody is speaking to them about the risk of exposing themselves both physically and verbally on the Internet.
Do you know of any organization that is speaking to these children about the risk of social media? Not only of the predators out there but of the harm they can do to themselves with what that they posting on the Internet of themselves.
Many thanks,
Barbara Trimino
Dear Ms. Trimino,
Thanks for asking this important question. Here is a short list of organizations that address digital citizenship and the dangers of over sharing and social media. They all produce resources you and/or your children’s school could use to develop online/social media risk awareness training.
These are the big three in teaching online safety to kids:
OnGuard Online
Common Sense Media
Connect Safetly
Here are some more specific resources:
Digital Passport
Connect Safely Resources
Connect Safely Directory of Resources