dysTalk Managing Childrens Use Of The Internet And Technology Ict - Talks - dysTalk

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About this talk: Terry Freedman describes the advantages and dangers for children who use the internet and technology. He gives parents practical tips and guidance on ensuring children use technology safely and usefully.

About the speaker: Terry Freedman has been working in education for 34 years. He started as an economics teacher before teaching ICT (Information and Communication Technology). Terry has worked for local and central government and for the past five years has been running his own consultancy and a website called ICT in Education.

Talk Topics - General Advice / Other

Further information about this Talk

Visit Terry Freedman's website by clicking here.

The following links may be of interest to parents:

• Thinkuknow! is a website run by the police (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection agency, or CEOP) and has links to other useful websites, some of which contain information about software parents can install, and videos.
• Where's Klaus? An excellent video produced for parents by the CEOP team.
•  A quiz parents can take to check their knowledge and understanding of internet safety matters. The answers/feedback page gives further information and links.
• Social networking from a teens' perspective. An article by Terry Freedman.
• What are your kids learning while you're not looking?. An article about research undertaken by Terry Freedman and Miles Berry.

Key Points Covered in This Talk:

• Misconceptions about children and technology: Parents are perhaps over-concerned about the safety aspect of ICT (Information and Communication Technology). ICT can be very safe if you know what you are doing and you follow certain guidelines. All schools and local authorities are very aware of the safety aspects. At home parents need to know about what their children are doing.
  • Many parents allow their children to have a computer in their own bedroom and leave them alone for hours on end. Simple strategies such as moving the computer from the bedroom into a family area and not allowing children to spend hours on a computer doing their own thing will help ensure usage is properly monitored. Parents should also ask their children what they are doing on the internet and have a conversation about it to keep themselves informed (this doesn't have to be done in a draconian, parental type way).
  • A common misconception is that the internet is full of predators and in fact it isn't. Such people only account for a very small percentage of users.
  • Another misconception is that children spend all their time on computers playing games (either online or offline). Research has shown that most children don't spend their time playing games. The games they do play tend to be educational. In fact most children spend most of their time outside of school doing things connected with school on the computer. The kind of people they are talking to over the internet are their friends, the people they see in school anyway.
• The advantages of technology: There are many advantages of utilising both the internet and games.
  • Blogs, social networks (like facebook) and wikis allow people to communicate over the internet. The reason these tools are good is that they widen participation. For example a child who is very shy or lacking in confidence in class may come alive when they can contribute without having to do so in person, via facebook, a wiki or a blog. Blogs have the benefit of allowing parents to see their children's work from outside school. Even if it's not possible (because of the school setup) for parents to actually login and see their children's work they can see blogs via the internet.
  • Games have all sorts of advantages for children. They enable children to take part in activities which would perhaps be dangerous for them to take part in if it wasn't a game. For example games allow children to explore what it would be like to live on a desert island or to visit a volcano. Games also enable children to explore the underlying model of things. For example if you were to looking at a simulation of how the British Economy is run and considering how full employment impacts inflation you would very quickly start to get a feel for the underlying assumptions in the model. Therefore for both younger and older children games can be very useful. In younger children (even as young as three or four) games machines have been used to stimulate the ability to write stories and also as a means whereby they can improve mental arithmetic. We often hear how children spend all their time on violent video games; this is not actually true. Even in terms of video games, these have been found to be extremely useful for improving reaction times, so even these games are not entirely bad news.
  • There are also lots of benefits surrounding internet and e-learning. If you take social networks (such as facebook), these allow young people to communicate with each other, to keep in touch and even to get help. Many children use facebook and msn messenger to get help with their homework. E-learning also opens up possibilities for children who are school-phobic or who, for other reasons, can't actually attend school.
• Things parents need to be aware of:
  • It's very easy for older people to assume that youngsters know everything about using technology. While they are very good at picking things up on a superficial level and are very good at multi-tasking with technology, this does not mean children know everything. Therefore it is useful for parents to get involved in their child's technology education as you would normally and to try and find out about the technology they are using.
  • In terms of keeping children safe, having the computer in a family area rather than in the child's bedroom is important.
  • Parental controls can be installed on computers which allow parents to block certain sites and also to see which sites children have been visiting.
  • It is important to have an up-to-date anti-virus checker on the computer. Free ones are available which keep the computer safe.
  • From a personal safety point of view children need to understand that once you submit writing in a digital fashion it is there forever. Anything you write, any comment on a website, any photo you upload will be there forever. Even if you were to remove it a few seconds later it would still be there as the internet is archived. Therefore young people need to be taught how to keep themselves safe, not just from the point of view of the more obvious dangers, but also in terms of future job prospects. Future employers may not appreciate photos or comments of people acting in a silly manner.
  • It is important to appreciate that there is a gulf between what children intellectually know and how they behave. So youngsters will be able to tell you what is safe and unsafe to do online, but this does not necessarily mean they will avoid the unsafe things. Therefore just because a child says they know what's safe, parents should not simply leave it at that. Parents should still have conversations about what children have been up to and put them right if necessary from the benefit of experience.
  • Technology is not suitable for all children for every activity all the time. It is not healthy to spend too long in front of the computer for physical reasons. Spending significant time in front of a computer can lead to RSI or simply feeling unwell. Furthermore, to be creative, sometimes just using a pen and paper can be very helpful.
  • Children should be encouraged to look for several sources when researching online rather than just relying on one source.
•  Therefore while there are disadvantages and dangers with using technology, if parents are sensible, approach technology in the correct way and have conversations with children to monitor usage then the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.