The Rookery

In preparation for some future work, I had the Herons review and sign our Internet and Computer Contract.  We begin with learning the importance of asking questions and understanding everything before you agree to a contract.

We talked about safe searches and about viruses.  We talked about sites whose information you can trust and those you can't be so sure about.  We emphasized the importance of giving credit to the places you get information and images.  We talked about what to do if an image or other content comes up on your screen that makes you uncomfortable.

We talked about keeping all  of your personal information private and not sharing it with anyone on line.  I made sure to include passwords and phone numbers as "personal information."  We also talked a little bit about how not everyone who says he's a ten year old in Edina is actually a ten year old in Edina.  Because it comes up a lot at this age, we talked about not sharing passwords with friends (if you want them to help you in a game, you log in and then pass the play over to your friend.)

This conversation gave us a logical segue into never sharing any information on-line that you wouldn't want to explain to a parent or at a job interview.  I think this generation is luckier than the kids who are currently in highschool and college – they are hearing this message early and hopefully it will keep them from making the mistakes many young adults are making now.  4th and 5th are too young to have a Facebook account – in part because of the huge responsibility of using the technology ethically.  One must be 13 to have an account and hopefully, by then, these messages of personal safety and responsibility will be second nature for our kids.

Finally, we talked about the only part of the Internet contract that applies to home use as well:  they may not use a computer (including cell phones) to hurt other people.  We talked about how easy it is to send an e-mail that you later regret and I told them a good test is to ask yourself if you would say something to some in person or not.  We included texting in the conversation and talked about how it's sometimes harder to make good decisions when you're part of a group so you should avoid playing with e-mail and cell phones when you're with a group of friends.

Whew.  It was a long and rich conversation.  I'm always surprised by the experiences kids have already had – many knew kids who had received unwanted texts, for example.  It gave us a chance to talk about what to do if someone is attempting to harass or hurt you using technology.

While most the contract does not apply to home computer use, I highly recommend adopting the same agreement in your household.  I also hope that you have your child use a computer that is in a public place.  While it may not seem necessary right now, it will be soon and it is much easier to establish transparency around computer use now than to "take away" privacy later.

These are important issues and I would love to hear about your experiences and open up a conversation as a community.  Please share a comment.