When I worked in a middle school most of my students also had accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or all of the above. These kids MIGHT be old enough in 8th grade to have signed up, assuming they had parents' permission, but they must have been lying about their age in 6th or 7th grade. Or maybe their parents didn't mind. Or didn't know. It goes to show parents sometimes need to be informed about dangers and legalities in addition to teaching digital citizenship to kids.
I understand both of your comments regarding parent liability in terms of allowing their children to sign up for accounts prior to the age of 13. My question to you now is do you think 13 is a appropriate age to have on many of these platforms? Given that an alarming amount of children under the age of 13 have existing accounts should this age be modified in Terms of Service agreements?
I agree that it does fall on the parents. Parents have the ability to limit screen time at home and even take away devices when the child gets into trouble! Its funny- at many IEP meetings parents often ask me "My child is spending 5+ hours on homework, how can we limit this". I follow up with "do they do their homework on their iPad?". The parents generally say yes. I often tell parents to have the students sit at the family dining table and set an alarm- for every 15 minutes of hard work, the students can take 3-5 minutes to play iPad games or Youtube videos. I do this with my students in my special education resource classes and it is VERY effective! A lot of these parents have noticed that the 5+ hours it is taking their children is due to the iPad distraction. We do not issue that much homework in 7th grade :)
James, I agree parents need to be involved a great deal more than they are currently. There is only so much we can do as a school system. I still monitor my 23 year old son's page. Sometimes he will post celebrations that are private and future vacation dangerous that is because if someone is looking for you, it's easy to find you.
I love that part of your family's plan is to make sure you are all following rules and keeping each other accountable. I think modeling the desired internet usage for your kids will be really helpful because all kids learn by example. Giving yourself a limit on your own screen time could be helpful, too. I know I personally find myself on social media all too often. Having limits could make sure the entire family is using their time in the best way. Great post!
When I worked in a middle school most of my students also had accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or all of the above. These kids MIGHT be old enough in 8th grade to have signed up, assuming they had parents' permission, but they must have been lying about their age in 6th or 7th grade. Or maybe their parents didn't mind. Or didn't know. It goes to show parents sometimes need to be informed about dangers and legalities in addition to teaching digital citizenship to kids.
ReplyDeleteI understand both of your comments regarding parent liability in terms of allowing their children to sign up for accounts prior to the age of 13. My question to you now is do you think 13 is a appropriate age to have on many of these platforms? Given that an alarming amount of children under the age of 13 have existing accounts should this age be modified in Terms of Service agreements?
ReplyDeleteI agree that it does fall on the parents. Parents have the ability to limit screen time at home and even take away devices when the child gets into trouble! Its funny- at many IEP meetings parents often ask me "My child is spending 5+ hours on homework, how can we limit this". I follow up with "do they do their homework on their iPad?". The parents generally say yes. I often tell parents to have the students sit at the family dining table and set an alarm- for every 15 minutes of hard work, the students can take 3-5 minutes to play iPad games or Youtube videos. I do this with my students in my special education resource classes and it is VERY effective! A lot of these parents have noticed that the 5+ hours it is taking their children is due to the iPad distraction. We do not issue that much homework in 7th grade :)
ReplyDeleteJames,
ReplyDeleteI agree parents need to be involved a great deal more than they are currently. There is only so much we can do as a school system. I still monitor my 23 year old son's page. Sometimes he will post celebrations that are private and future vacation dangerous that is because if someone is looking for you, it's easy to find you.
I love that part of your family's plan is to make sure you are all following rules and keeping each other accountable. I think modeling the desired internet usage for your kids will be really helpful because all kids learn by example. Giving yourself a limit on your own screen time could be helpful, too. I know I personally find myself on social media all too often. Having limits could make sure the entire family is using their time in the best way. Great post!
ReplyDelete