No Adults Allowed!

Quilt of Trusted Adults

Working with NetSmartz, the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office has empowered children to teach each other about Internet safety. Director of Community Education and Outreach, Cynthia Boyle, shares about their work and what can happen when adults take a step back.

In Massachusetts, Clicky has taken on some additional duties: working with high school students to teach first and second graders how to be safer online. Members of the 2008-2009 Youth Advisory Board (YAB), which consists of high school students from local schools, decided it was time for them to take an active role in helping teach basic Internet safety to the youngest members of their communities.

In addition to teaching with Clicky, YAB members also provide the first and second graders with some hands-on classroom projects that reinforce the safety messages they learned from Clicky. While in the classrooms, YAB members lead discussions with the first and second graders about who a trusted adult is and create a list of the students’ answers. Then, each student is given a quilt square and asked to draw a picture of their trusted adult.

When the students are finished with their drawings, YAB members tie the squares together creating a Quilt of Trusted Adults. Each class keeps their quilt to hang in their classroom for the rest of the school year. Finally, an awards ceremony is held, where the YAB members give each student a Clicky certificate of completion and an activity book to take home.

Through teaching lessons about Internet safety, the YAB members have those concepts reinforced in their own lives. It is just more one step that our community is taking towards helping every child stay safer online.

Some Real NetSmartz Kids

The students at St. Thomas Aquinas School know what it means to be safer online. Watch them use their NetSmartz in this Internet safety skit.

Have you made your own Internet safety video? Let us know! You could be featured on our blog.

Wanted: Unemployment

Illustration by Scott Trolan

It’s my job to stay up-to-date with Internet news. This means reading about anything from Facebook’s privacy policies to new iPhone apps. It also means reading about the mistakes that people make online—again and again. And again. These online errors reinforce the need for Internet education programs, like NetSmartz.

But at the same time, please, STOP! Everyday I read stories about people being punished for doing things like posting vulgar status updates or creating fake and defamatory profiles. These aren’t even new mistakes…just the same ones over and over! Sure, the Internet is huge, and the chances of your bad behavior being discovered are slim. But probability isn't much comfort if you are the person that is caught!

So here’s my challenge: put me out of a job. Enough is enough already! Please stop making the same mistakes online. Or do you need to read one more story about someone losing their job because of what they did on Facebook or Twitter?

Unemployment Plan

1) Look at your profile. Is there anything inappropriate or illegal? Get rid of it!
2) Check your privacy settings. Be in of control who sees your information.
3) Review your friends list. Remember, these are the people with access to everything that you post. (Which means your crush just saw that update about your little problem with halitosis.)

Oh, yeah. And think before you post. I know. Soooo obvious. But it clearly needs to be said.

Amani Rushing, Writer/Editor

Twitter to Teens: Pick Me!

Illustration by Christie Andrews

Last week I discussed the ongoing battle for teen users between social networking giants MySpace and Facebook. But there is a new player on the social media scene, vying for the oh-so-finicky attention of the youth market. Enter Twitter, trying to win the hearts and minds of teens 140 characters at a time.

Twitter was hyped as the next big thing, but has not caught on with teens as massively as Facebook or MySpace. A recent report shows that only 19% of Twitter users are teens, and they seem to be more interested in following persons and brands of interest than making updates. If that is so, Twitter may have recently received a set back to attracting a bigger teen audience.

Teen Queen Miley Cyrus deleted her Twitter account; she even rapped about it (video below). Does this mean that her teen followers will abandon Twitter, too? Not so fast. Enter the Great and Powerful Twilight Movie Franchise. Since creating its Twitter page this teen-driven franchise has gained close to 140,000 followers.

Take cover Twitter; a herd of teens may be stamp-tweeting in your direction.

MySpace v. Facebook

Illustration by Scott Trolan

Over the past several years researchers and marketers have been tracking what websites teens use. First MySpace reigned supreme, but then Facebook emerged as the “mature” alternative. Users flocked to Facebook in droves, saying that MySpace was “trashy” and dangerous.

Since then there has been much chatter about why, how many, and which teens abandoned MySpace. Research suggests that there is a social and economic divide between MySpace and Facebook users—those on Facebook are more likely to be white, educated, and privileged. And although Facebook is the most popular social networking site right now, it’s getting older. Adults have discovered it and that makes it no longer cool. Will teens move on to something else?





Michelle Menillo, Educational Writer

A Happy (And Safer) Halloween

Illustration by Chris Bevington

Halloween is just two days away! While you've been making all of your last minute preparations—candy, costumes, and carving pumpkins—NetSmartz Workshop has been preparing to help you keep your child safer. Check out this list of Halloween safety tips and get ready for a safer night of fun.

NetSmartz Workshop

Teens Talk Back: Facebook Relationship Statuses

Teen dating has gone digital. NetSmartz Intern Kasha Scott shares her take on the trend.

Illustration by Chris Bevington

Everyone who has a Facebook page knows how important your “Relationship Status” is. Changing statuses account for 90% of the drama associated with Facebook. When people are asked about their relationship, the first question that many people are asked is whether or not they are “Facebook official.” The first way I find out about whether or not my friends are dating is often through Facebook. On the flip side, the first time I hear of a break-up will be by reading it on Facebook. A few of my friends have ended relationships by simply setting their status to “single” without telling their boyfriend or girlfriend.

While this trend tends to make the break-up more difficult than it should be, it definitely sends a message to the other person. Relationship statuses are a trend that is making teen dating more complicated than it already is. When do you change your relationship to say “In a relationship”? Is there a “relationship status talk” that couples need to have? Should there be specific rules about when to change your relationship status?

Not only are serious relationship status causing drama, but people are also marrying, engaged, and in open relationships with their best friends. For example, on Facebook under the relationship status, it will say “Sally is married to her best friend Nancy.” I believe that this also adds an interesting twist on the whole relationship status situation with Facebook. These relationships are simply among friends which is the reason I don’t really understand why the changes are being made. Is it for attention? Is it to mock the serious relationship status? Who knows, maybe this is a Facebook trend that will soon die out along with the quizzing craziness.

Kasha Scott, Intern