Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

10.13.10 | It wasn’t so long ago that adult fears about the internet focused on young children encountering inappropriate content and online predators.

Today, writes Scott Traylor, founder of 360KID, there is more concern over “a child’s privacy, cyberbullying, and what constitutes appropriate behavior online.”

“If you think about it,” Traylor notes in a post at The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, “our social perceptions of the Internet and how kids will experience positive as well as negative aspects of the online world have changed a lot in a very short time.”

These concerns and perceptions were addressed by an expert panel at last month’s Back to School: Learning and Growing in a Digital Age, an event on federal policy, e-learning and digital literacy sponsored by Common Sense Media, PBS Kids, USC Annenberg’s Center on Communication Leadership & Policy, and The Children’s Partnership.

Traylor captures some of the noteworthy comments from the panel—read on for excerpts.

The shift in thinking reflected in Traylor’s comments connects with the growing recognition, which we’ve discussed previously, that children’s online interactions have real value—in terms of identity formation and developing a sense of external responsibility. Instead of simply shielding them from the online world and treating them as victims in need of protection, many online critics and researchers are looking for ways to enable and empower children to become “active agents for good” within a safe, secure online space.

This new perspective is even reflected in the federal government’s latest national campaign to promote online safety, which made its way to Capitol Hill last week. As part of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the Federal Trade Commission is promoting new additions to its internet guide, “Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online.” The language from the “Heads Up” section—directed toward kids themselves—eschews fear for a more positive encouragement of online street smarts:

You text, you play games, you share photos and video. You update your status, you post comments, you probably spend some time in a virtual world.

Being online—connected through some sort of device—is how you live your life. And as you spend more of your time there, it can be easy to over-share, embarrass yourself, mess up your computer and possibly get messages from creepy people. The truth is there are some risks involved in socializing, playing and communicating online.

Regardless of how fast your fingers fly on a keyboard or cell phone, the best tool you have to help avoid risks online is your brain.

This welcoming approach is also apparent as the site encourages kids to “Share with Care” and “Interact with Tact.” OK, that last buzz phrase might need some work before it catches on, but being the active agents they are, kids will probably let them know that pretty soon.