Newspaper Review #1

Date : Friday, December 5th
Article : Cyber Safety message has to go out to kids

Overview :
Kids, teenagers, are going online, viewing pornographic sites, downloading illegally. Chatrooms posed as a danger, as many teenagers are talking to strangers, exchanging information with them, and even meeting up with them. So they feel that it's time to form a national agency that can act in a coordinated way, a national budget to fund, programmes on cyber safety for children and teenagers. Parents also find it hard to catch up with what their kids are doing online, and some don't really know how to use the internet. Once they learned something about chatrooms, the younger generation are going on to blogs and social networking sites. They cannot completely ban their children from all these internet risks, as they have research to do, and social networks shouldn't be completely out of bounds for them. Schools are also driving cyber safety messages home to students and parents.

Reflection :
Teenagers, kids, having assess to the internet, don't really know what's right or wrong, or what things can be filtered into their minds and not. I feel that driving messages through the schools are workable, but should be done starting from primary schools, so that when the child gets connected to the internet, they would have a better idea of the cyber risks, and won't get into any trouble. If it only taught in secondary schools, those already using the internet during primary schools, would not be able to differentiate between harmful and useful, and they might even venture pornographic sites, which is very unhealthy. Parents should also update themselves, by learning more about the internet, especially about what teenagers are using now, like blogs, online chatrooms, social networking sites, even gaming sites which allows the kids to communicate with other strangers. Those who do not know a lot about the internet, can go for courses to upgrade themselves. Then, they would be better able to watch over their child, lest they fall into 'cyber danger'. Having this national agency would also help the schools to inform the students of more updated and new cyber safety messages.

Eileen L.