Tech Talk for the Middle School

What are the kids doing on their computers typing away all night?? I have always worried about my students online but I also want to encourage them to use technology and stay up to date. In my opinion there are a lot of things online that are very dangerous for kids and adults to be using. However lately I have found a bunch of places that are really interesting and have the safety of kids in mind. This post will deal with the dangers of social networking. My next will discuss some of the more appropriate sites for teens.

Myspace is the big evil at my school. I have created an online character which is an 8th grade girl. I notified the school police officer and the school principal of my actions so that I would not lose my job. My plan was not to entrap any students but to see how many kids would accept a complete stranger as a friend. I have about 50 middle and high school friends on my MySpace account. It was very eye opening how many kids just accepted me not having a clue who I am. After a year of this test run I have shared my experiment with my studnets. I think it helped. Many of them were worried if they had accepted me as their friend and several went home and cleared out their unknow friends.

Another problem that we see in our school is when MySpace is used for cyberbulling. Kids will create a MySpace account dedicated to trashing another persons reputation and to share hate with the world. For example an account name might me “Joe Smith is a loser” Trust me the names are much more hurtful than that. Then this site is used to say terrible things about Joe Smith and everyone joins in . Some to support the victim and more to add hate comments directed at Joe Smith. It can get really nasty and extremely painful to the victim.

What I share with my students is that MySpace does not look out for teens and children. It has many features and applications witch encourage kids to share information that should not be public knowledge. The Stranger Danger lesson that my 4 and 6 year olds learn in their school needs to be extended to online strangers as well.

Facebook is another very popular social networking site that is used more with the college students but I see it moving into the high school and recently I have seen several middle school kids using it. One key difference between Facebook and Myspace is that only your accepted friends can see your site. So unless the kids accept you as a friend you can not view there information. Myspace allows you to set your site as private but many middle school kids ignore this option. MySpace allows you to use any name such as “Joe Smith is a loser” while you have to use a name on Facebook. In my opinion Facebook is still not acceptable to a middle school student.

Whether a parent or a student we need to be aware of what we are sharing and who has access to it. Some people are dangerous and some are just “fishermen” who are just fishing for more information to hack sites, accounts, and passwords. Recently VP nominee Sarah Palins Yahoo account was hacked because she gave out the answers to her password safety questions in a speech. They were her High School and where she met her husband.

SO BE CAREFUL!!!!