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Welcome!
On March 28, the National School Boards Foundation and Grunwald
Associates released an unprecedented national survey, “Safe & Smart:
Research and Guidelines for Children’s Use of the Internet.” With
generous support from The Children’s Television Workshop and Microsoft
Corporation they enlisted the help of the Dieringer Research Group in
conducting interviews with over 1700 households to better understand the
role that the Internet plays in children’s lives. Although summaries
often give short shrift to the complexity of the full text—indeed, I
encourage you to read the report in its entirety at www.nsbf.org—below is a list of the major findings, which may serve as a jumping off point for
this forum:
- The Internet gives schools the opportunity to help narrow the gap
between the haves and have-nots. Overall, 70 percent of parents with
incomes of $75,000 or more report that one or more of their children use
the Internet, compared to 35 percent of parents with incomes less than
$40,000. Fifty-seven percent of white parents report that their children
use the Internet, compared to 23 percent of African-American parents.
- Parents generally believe that the Internet is a safe place for their
children. Sixty-seven percent of all parents believe that their main role
in their children’s use of the Internet is as a guide to good content
rather than as a watchdog (24 percent).
- The most common reasons parents cite for buying home computers are
children’s education and business use. Likewise, parents cite education
as the most common motivation for their children to use the Internet from
home.
- Internet use does not disrupt children’s everyday habits and typical,
healthy activities.
- Contrary to conventional wisdom, parents and children report that the
Internet does not isolate children from their families, peers or
communities.
- Girls are just as likely to use the Internet as their male counterparts.
In addition to publishing the survey, the National School Boards
Foundation also asked me to write an overview entitled “Children’s Online
Safety: Government Regulation and Industry Trends.” I hope that you will
find it useful as well. Should you choose
to read it, the full text may be found at www.nsbf.org/safe-smart/toc.htm. In an effort to provide a second
springboard for our discussion, below is an excerpt of the issues I
defined though I hope our discussion will go well beyond safety.
- Cyberstalking and threats online predators pose to children’s physical
safety.
Although there have been a relatively small number of reported
cases involving children who have been abducted or hurt after
participating in an online activity, many people believe that the
Internet significantly increases “stranger danger.”
- Harmful or inappropriate content, most often characterized as
pornographic, excessively violent or simply “adult.”
The Web alone makes
inordinate amounts of information available to anyone with a computer, a
browser and a connection. Though many people have heralded the
educational opportunities of having ready access to places, people and
ideas all around the world, others are worried that young people will
actively seek or accidentally stumble into sites that they shouldn’t.
Political, religious and moral standards have given rise to objections
ranging from children seeing pictures of naked people to learning how to
make a bomb to reading racist texts to finding resources on homosexuality
and abortion.
- Privacy invasions that result from the collection of personally
identifiable information about individual children.
The interactive,
two-way nature of the Web gives marketers an unprecedented ability to
collect information about individual computer users.
- Commercialism and aggressive marketing targeted directly at children.
Although technology gives individuals a chance to make their own Web
sites, by and large, corporate spaces on the Web far surpass personal
homepages in popularity and influence.
- Ensuring that worthwhile content is created and is able to reach
children and families in their homes in addition to their schools.
Just
as children have the benefit of public spaces, like parks and zoos, as
well as high-quality programming on public broadcasting, many contend
that there should be similar places for children to explore online.
I invite you to respond - to me, to the survey, and, most importantly, to
one another. From April 3-7, I ask you to post your thoughts, list
resources, share experiences, frame questions, think critically,
respectfully challenge, recount lessons learned and contribute to what
promises to be a rich and worthwhile discussion.
Looking forward to it!
Shelley Pasnik
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