Cyber Saftey

In today's world of lightning fast internet, information superhighways, and purchases just a mouse click away, is there any question of the present or future need for internet safety? As with anything new, there needs to be an entirely new set of rules established. Take our vocabulary as an example, 15 years ago what did 'laptop' mean? It was the place where kids sat on grandpa's knee. Now it has a completely new meaning that is accepted and known to most people. The same applies to our rules of conduct or in this case cyberethics. Another very real concern is teaching our children how to stay safe from predators in this new high speed world. It's also important to teach them how to weed through the plethora of information, to take what is good and discard what is not.

Cyberethics are more important now then they ever have been in the history of time. The internet is a little older and people are agreeing, ethics that are established for person to person contact should be observed online as well. Use the internet for the purposes that is was established; shopping, banking, communication, gaming, networking, and information sharing. Do not use it for bullying, stealing, lying, cheating, or any other unethical practice.

Online predators typically target younger children. They are more trusting, honest, and accessible. Some of the ways to protect your children are; adhere to social networking site age limits, monitor your children at all times when they use the internet, and monitor their sites. Teach your children to never give out personal information and interact only with people whom they know in person. There are also a number of filters available that allow parents to set parameters of what can be accessed. If you believe your child has become the target of a predator contact your local police and keep all communications.

The internet can be a great tool to retrieve useful information. It has also become a tool for those propagating hate, bias, and stereotyping. When teaching our children to spot misinformation online, it is done in the same manner as with other forms of information. The first question to ask is; can you trust the source, what is their agenda, are they trying to sell you something? We teach our children tolerance, patience, love and kindness. These lessons should spill into internet usage.

In conclusion, the internet is a powerful tool or a powerful weapon, depending on how we decide to use it. When we bring common sense and the golden rule into internet interactions, we will have complete cybersaftey.


Here is the synopsis you asked for. I hope this is adequate. Actually I hope you love it! I am fairly comfortable with Microsoft office 2007 and computers in general. I have set up a couple of networks, nothing fancy, one for my husbands office and one in my home. I have added memory to my motherboard, and I have installed a CD burner in my desktop. Sadly my desktop finally died after 7 years and I cannot revive it. I am enjoying this computer class, now I have a reason for being online and playing on my computer! I guess Facebook wasn't a good enough reason.