Comments on: Totally Wired Teens

By: char

char — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 04:11:35 +0000

Parry – thank you for taking time to stop in and talk with us.

My kids really like playing Disney’s Virtual Magic Kingdom – they are almost 11 and 8. I have been extremely impressed with the moderators on the site and the real life lessons they have been able to learn in a relatively safe online environment.

Last August my daughter attempted to give out her phone number to her best friend in real life while they were both on VMK. The moderators immediately banned both girls for one month. We did a lot of talking about the incident, why what she did was wrong (apart from the fact that her friend has her on speed dial anyhow), and how that mistake could have devastating effects in different environment.

My son prefers to just Skype his real life friends and they play video games at the same time and talk to each other at the same time.

I agree, we as parents have to help our children learn to combine street sense with online sense – social networking and technology are not going away – we just have to prepare them to use it wisely.

Thanks again for stopping in. I will check out your other site, too.

By: char

char — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 04:04:05 +0000

V-grrrl – your daughter sounds very sensible! You are doing a great job with your kids.

By: Parry Aftab

Parry Aftab — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 04:00:52 +0000

We appreciate your sharing our site with our readers. While I worry about teh traditional social networks and what our tweens and teens are doing on them, I have some serious misgivings about the tiny networks – ClubPenguin and others that encourage our 8 yr olds to chat with others in the guise of cute little animals.

8 and younger is far too young for interactive communications, no matter how well monitored, with strangers….

let’s try and get more moms involved…
together we can change the world!

thanks again.
Parry Aftab
Exec Director
WiredSafety.org

p.s. check out our new site on cyberbullying – stopcyberbullying.org.

By: V-Grrrl

V-Grrrl — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 20:35:10 +0000

The first time I scheduled a meeting with someone I met online through my blog friends, my 8 year-old daughter gave me a lecture about the danger of getting together with people you meet on the Internet.

I addressed her concerns and told her what precautions I was taking and why (meeting in a public place, not revealing where I lived, etc. etc.). The incident was reassuring because it showed how much of their Internet safety training had been taken to heart, but it also reminded me that they will do what I DO.