Internet Safety

   Yah for internet safety!  

        READINGS

1)  I read an article entitled "Its 'Only' Vioelnce" by Brad Bushman.

2) Violence in media may not affect me, but it may affect others around me, my children or my students, so its something I need to be concerned about.  Also, LDS people often downplay violence in media, but the shedding of innocent blood is even worse of a sin than sexual transgression.

3)  I need to be careful to not glorify violence in literature.  If a violence is part of literature that we study, I need to show how it is destructive.

4)  One way of looking at all of this positively is to know that there are groups out there dedicated to providing clean, uplifting, and quality media.  Hopefully, these groups will only increase.  I need to support them with my money and my time, and encourage others to do the same.  

WATCHING

I watched the BYU animation about internet safety.  It seemed very basic and also very approachable, so I think it would be an excellent resource for young kids (elementary school).

I also watched a group of videos recommended on the class website.  This included sections on cyberbullying, parents involvement/lack of involvement in the world of the internet and teenagers, exploring different identities through the internet, etc.  Honestly, many of them made the future seem quite dim.  One of the positive aspects of it was teaching students from an early age internet courtesy.  I think through all of this, we have to realize that kids are turning to bad things on the Internet because they aren't having some need met, whether it is social, emotional, or intellectual.  I want to try to encourage kids to live in the real world, maybe show them some aspects of these videos, and see what their thoughts are.  I also would want to show them horror stories so as to illustrate consequences of living through the internet or the television.

DOING

I talked with my Mom (age 61) on Internet Safety.  We watched the video on cyber-bullying and talked about it.  It went well, although it was a sad topic and discussion.  We talked about how we are so glad the prophets counseled us to have computers in public places, and also how we need to know our children, know what is troubling them, and do all we can to meet their needs so that they don't go elsewhere, like the Internet, for comfort and answers.