Have you heard? We are living in the ‘Digital Age’. Got kids? Then you are parenting Digital Natives, young people born into a world that is, if not defined by tech, then certainly surrounded by technology in ever-evolving ways. This means, like it or not, you are a Digital Parent.
But what does it mean to digitally parent? From the Savvy Cyber Kids point-of-view we—parents, grandparents, educators and any adult who cares for a young person—have a responsibility to raise cyber aware kids.
Their safety, if not their lives, depends on it. Seen with a cyber ethics lens, the Savvy Cyber Kids News Feed keeps us abreast of when technology is used for bad—to inspire us, to be aware and to guide us make necessary changes in our homes and in our schools.
Their reputation and their ability to not make stupid decisions that will negatively impact the rest of their lives depends on it: Back To School Reminder… Watch Your Digital Trail Behind Before it Smacks You in the A$$!
After all, you didn’t let your young child play in the park unsupervised. Then why do we let children play on the digital playground without consideration for their online safety?
There is no one-stop shop set of rules for digitally parenting. Every family can and should make their own judgements, even from child to child, about what constitutes cyber safety and cyber ethics in the family home. The one rule we impart to EVERY digital parent is to get involved and stay involved in your children’s digital lives.
From time to time, Savvy Cyber Kids will discuss software and hardware parental controls that are aids to digital parenting. They can never replace the best parental control…YOU. No matter what level of technical control you put in place inside and outside your home, the influence of tech and mass media is breezing past you outside the home—maybe even on your child’s devices. Your child is being exposed to images and messages that you should be aware of. Children need a parent by a child’s side helping them to navigate this new world. In many ways, the ‘sex talk’ is now the ‘tech talk’ and our kids need it at younger and younger ages. As an example, read this: Did You Know Teen Vogue is Teaching Your Kids About Anal Sex?
To get started, visit our website SavvyCyberKids.org and sign up for our ongoing series, the Parent’s Guide to Technology, under Free Resources. If you like what we are doing, support Savvy Cyber Kids so that we can do more to help students, parents and educators keep up with the speed of technology and work together to keep the virtual playground as safe as a cherished neighborhood park.