Internet Safety

Internet Use and Your Family

By Heather Purcell, LS Librarian

 

Technology can be a wonderful tool for accessing a wealth of information. It can also be a pathway to many things we aren't yet ready for our children to see. Children can stumble upon inappropriate images, excessive advertising, and negative social interactions.

In the library, we are currently talking about how there are "just right" places to go on the Internet, just like there are "just right" books for us. This includes having age-appropriate content that interests us, text that isn't too hard, and clear navigation tools (buttons, menus). We are looking at a variety of sites and rating them based on these things. In the coming weeks, we'll also talk about some basics of online safety, like keeping personal information private. 

It's never to soon to talk as a family about your expectations for Internet use. Some recommendations for healthy use include: set limits for screen-time, balance online time with active time, make use of filtering software (but realize it won't catch everything), talk openly about things the kids are doing online, and have screen use be in a common area of your home. Even finding something you wish they hadn't can lead to important discussions. 

Commonsense Media is a free site that has excellent resources for parents (and teachers) about various types of media, including advice about healthy media habits for younger children and movie/TV/game/app/website reviews for families. Reviews include discussion topics and things for parents to be aware of. You might also want to look at some of the resources on Safe Kids, like the language in their family contracts for online safety.