Online Safety 3.0
Empowering and Protecting Youth
Larry Magid
Co-director
ConnectSafely.org
Founder
SafeKids.com & SafeTeens.com
Presentation online @ www.SafeKids.com/mommy.ppt
Web 1.0…
“On the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog.”
--New Yorker, July 1993
On Web 2.0...
“...everybody knows you’re a dog.”
--Michael Kinsley, Slate.com, 11/27/06
Modeling matters
Cute, but is it healthy?
Is this a good thing?
Kids 5-7
1 in 10 has a mobile
phone
Half have a TV in
bedroom
85% have access to
game consoles
Based on study of UK children
Source: UK Media regulator Ofcom as reported in Daily Mail
Children and “screen time”
• The American Academy of Pediatrics advises
no more than 1 to 2 hours per day of total
screen time for children older than 2 (and zero
screen time for children under 2)
• That advice is a bit out of date considering the
kids now have their “screens” in their pockets
• Still, it’s a good idea to get your kids to unplug
now and then.
Distracting preschoolers from screens
1.
2.
3.
4.
Provide distractions. Diversions work well for this age group -- and
preschoolers love to help out. At dinner time, instead of busying them
with the TV while you cook, ask them to sort all your pots and pans from
biggest to smallest.
Practice togetherness. What kids this age need is a close, loving
relationship with an active, involved caregiver. It's actually OK to do
nothing but count dust bunnies, as long as you're together.
Do activities. Find a book of rainy-day activities that use household
objects for easy little projects you can set up (and clean up!) easily.
Be physically active: Outdoor or even indoor activities that keep them
physically active are good for your child's physical and mental health &
yours too.
Source: Items 1 to 3 from Common Sense Media
Elementary and middle school
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Delegate chores. Working parents can feel guilty asking kids to do chores,
but it's actually really good for them -- and it helps you, too. Just
remember to keep them manageable.
Schedule play dates. If kids are going to use the computer or game
console, invite a friend (or two) and make it social. That removes the
isolating aspect of gaming, which can lead to game addiction, loss of
empathy, and social withdrawal.
Grant privileges. Use screen time as a goal that kids have to work for.
Encourage creativity. If kids start exploring digital arts, encourage some
of the off-line aspects, like drawing, sketching scenes, writing, costume
design, etc.
Talk with them about the safe use of the technology
Source: Items 1 to 4 from Common Sense Media
Safety by age
• 2-4
• 4-7
• 7-10
• 10-12
• 12-14
• 14-17
Lapware: Parents should be present
Begin to explore on own, parents close by
Looking for independence, some peer
pressure, check in often
Social use of net, manage independence
High social use, privacy concerns,
exploring sexuality
Physical & emotional maturity, more
likely risk behavior, need to master self
control
Source: GetNetWise.org Safety by Age by Larry Magid
Online Safety 1.0 & 2.0
In both cases, it was children as victims
1.0 Pornography & predators: Protecting children
from bad adults. Children as consumers of
information, not as creators and based on
assumptions of risk, not actual research
2.0 Recognizing that kids can create content harm
other kids and themselves. Protecting children from
cyberbullying & posting inappropriate or dangerous
content
What is Online Safety 3.0?
• Research-based, not fear-based, so relevant
• Flexible, layered – not one-size-fits-all
• Respectful of youth agency – stakeholders in
positive outcomes, not just potential victims
• Positive, empowering: Not just safety from (bad
outcomes) but safety for good outcomes
• Full, constructive participation in participatory
society
It’s not just about safety, it’s also
about fun & learning
Would you take your child to a playground simply because it was safe?
Learning shouldn’t be all work and no play
Cartoon from Boston Globe article Pressure-cooker kindergarten (tinyurl.com/l39jsr)
Virtual worlds & learning
• Global VW population: 186m now, 640m by 2015
(appx 25% annual growth rate) – Strategy. Analytics/09
• 5-9-year-olds will be “biggest growth sector” at
27% growth – 50m to 209.9m
• 10-17-year-olds at 21% – 125m-395m
• Adults will triple – 11.5m-32.5m
• In 2008, VCs invested $590m in VWs
• Global virtual goods market is $5 billion
Virtual worlds & future of
education
“Eventually virtual worlds will permeate into every
aspect of education. They (virtual worlds and
education) will be one - inseparable, impossible to
distinguish or differentiate … Classes, from
kindergarten to college, will be able to go inside a
whale's stomach or visit ancient Rome, even design
entire cities. The possibilities are endless and
available.”
(Source:horizonproject.wikispaces.com/)
Virtual worlds and young
children
•
•
•
•
Can aid development of social, linguistic & tech skills
Can encourage creative expression & identity exploration
Look for parental controls & limits on chat
How does the world handle abusive behavior such as name
calling, mean comments, etc
• Beware of crass commercialism
– A good time to teach critical thinking skills
Some of these issues will be
explored in an upcoming issue of
Journal of Virtual Worlds
Research
64% of online teens create content
Blog
Post photos
Post video
Source: Pew Internet &
American Life - 12/07
Online socializing reflects ‘real life’
• 75% of teens use social sites now (15.5m), 79% in
2013 (17.9m)–eMarketer/’09
• 91% use social sites to stay in touch with friends
they see frequently (usually school-related).
• 82% to socialize with friends they rarely see in
person (distant friends).
• 72% to make plans with friends.
• 49% to make new friends.
• 17% to flirt.
Source: Pew Internet &
American Life survey
January 2007
2 types of social networking
...on all devices, fixed and mobile:
• Friendship-driven (84% of 15-25 YOs
in a qualitative study at Harvard School of Education)
• Interest-driven (80% involved in “at
least one such online community)
Source:
Digital Youth Project,
November 2008
Mobile social tools
Today’s phones are mobile computers
with...
• Mobile social networking
• Photo- & video-sharing
• Web browsing
• 24/7 texting
• Even less adult supervision
• GPS & social mapping
Mobile phones will be the world’s primary
tool for connecting to the Net by 2020.
Teens’ lives saved, thanks to
social-network sites…
• “Plan To 'Shoot Up' School Foiled”
Jan 12, 2009: “Deputies in Transylvania County [N.C] said they got a call from a sheriff’s
office in New York. A teenager there apparently came forward and said she met a
15-year-old on MySpace who said he had a dangerous plan.”
• “Facebook friend saves life of
suicidal teenager from the other side
of the Atlantic” – UK’s Daily Mail, 4/5/09
What are they doing
in there?
Good or normative…
 “Social producing”
 Learning social rules
 Designing profiles (selfexpression)
 Exploring identity
 Writing blogs
 Writing software code
 Sharing/producing music
 Producing & editing
videos
 Discussing interests
 Social/political activism
 Keeping in touch with
friends long-term
 Risk assessment
What else are they doing
in there?
Neutral or negative…
 Seeking validation
 Competing in a
popularity contest
 Venting
 Showing off
 Embarrassing self
 Damaging
reputation
 Pulling pranks
 Getting even
 Threatening
 Harassing
 Bullying
What we worry about
•Predation
•Viewing inappropriate content
•Posting inappropriate content
•Misuse of child’s image
•Cyberbullying & harassment
•Online addiction
•Online contributing to destructive, illegal or
inappropriate behavior
Types of Online Safety
• Physical safety – freedom from physical harm
• Psychological safety – freedom from cruelty,
harassment, and exposure to potentially disturbing
material
• Reputational and legal safety – freedom from
unwanted social, academic, professional, and legal
consequences that could affect you for a lifetime
• Identity, property, and community safety – freedom
from theft of identity and property
Source: Online Safety 3.0 (items 1 to 3 courtesy
Anne Collier)
Physical safety:
Freedom from physical harm
You’ve seen the headlines
Question:
What proportion of teens have
been approached online by a
predator?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
1 in 20
1 in 10
1 in 7
1 in 5
Almost half
It’s a trick question
What the 2000 and 2005 surveys actually
asked
1. “In the past year, did anyone on the Internet ask you for
sexual information about yourself when you did not want
to answer such questions?
2. “In the past year, did anyone on the Internet ever try to
get you to talk online about sex when you did not want
to?”
3. “In the past year, did anyone on the Internet ever ask you
to do something sexual that you did not want to do
Not necessarily “online predators”
1. Solicitations not necessarily from “online predators”. They
were all unwanted online requests to youth to talk about sex,
answer personal questions about sex or do something sexual.
But many could have been from other youth.
2. Solicitations not necessarily devious or intended to lure.
3. Most did not view the solicitations as serious or threatening
4. Almost all handled unwanted solicitations easily and
effectively. Most reacted by blocking or ignoring solicitors,
leaving sites, or telling solicitors to stop.
5. Extremely few youth (only 2) were actually sexually
victimized by someone they met online.
The surveys found
No solicitations in 2000 study led to physical contact. Only 2 in 2005
did. “Risk is statistically so rare, it can’t be estimated.” - CACRC
Online predators and young
children
“Internet predators don't hit on the
prepubescent children whom pedophiles target.
They target adolescents, who have more access
to computers, more privacy and more interest in
sex and romance.”
Janice Wolak "Online 'Predators' and Their Victims" American Psychologist, the journal
of the American Psychological Association
3.4X
“Posting personal information does not by itself increase risk.”
--Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2/07
Question
Has the growth in
young people’s use of the Internet
correlated with a rise in
sexual abuse against children?
Answer: No
Rate per 10,000 Children (<18)
25
51% Decline
20
(during the period of the
Web’s existence)
15
10
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
Confirmed cases of child sexual abuse
Source: NCANDS / Finkelhor & Jones, 2006
2004
Putting it into perspective
Pennsylvania Internet crimes for 4 year period vs. child
sexual assaults in 1 year
Nationally
• 30-40% of victims are
abused by a family
member
• Another 50% are
abused by someone
outside of the family
whom they know and
trust.
183
144
8
5
9,344
Source: Nancy Willard, Center for Safe & Responsible
Internet Use, Jan. 2009. Based on FY 06/07 reports from
rape crisis centers in PA & data from PA’s AG Ofc.
• Only 10% are abused
by strangers.
•Darkness to Light Foundation
Psychological safety:
Freedom from Inappropriate content
Exposure to Porn
• 42% of youth Internet users had been exposed to online
pornography in the past year.
• Of those, 66% reported only unwanted exposure.
• Wanted exposure rates were higher for teens, boys, and
youth who used file-sharing programs to download images,
talked online to unknown persons about sex, used the
Internet at friends’ homes, or scored in the borderline or
clinically significant range on the Child Behavior Checklist
subscale for rule-breaking. Depression also could be a
factor for some youth. Youth who used filtering and
blocking software had lower odds of wanted exposure.
Content concerns
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sexual content
Hate
Violence
Illegal activity
Harmful/self destructive activities
Substance abuse (including alcohol & tobacco
Tools
•
•
•
•
•
Filter incoming
Block outgoing
Monitoring & Reporting to parents
Control time online
Total amount of time/access times
Integrated into security
products & free from some ISPs
Two excellent free choices
* Monitor activities
* Set age appropriate rules
Helps you talk to your kids about safe online behavior
Child friendly browsers
Set limits and know what your kids are doing.
Consider
• Monitoring vs. filtering or both
• Disclosed or stealth mode
• Parental remote access for monitoring &
changing permissions
• What to do when you find something
• How to talk to kids about inappropriate
behavior/content
Fences are not sufficient
To be safe around all water,
we teach kids to swim
Ultimately, the best filter runs
between the child’s ears, not on a
device
Protection that last’s a lifetime
Training wheels for young kids
“You’ll look up and down
streets. Look’em over with
care. About some you will say,
‘I don’t choose to go there.’
With your head full of brains
and your shoes full of feet,
you’re too smart to go down a
not-so-good street.”
From: Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
By Dr. Seuss
It’s all about “family values”
“Decisions about acceptable media
content are extraordinarily personal;
no two people or families will have
the same set of values, especially
in a nation as diverse as ours.”
Adam Thierer
Parental Controls & Online Child Protection
Psychological safety (part 2):
Freedom from cruelty
Cyberbullying & harassment
• Risk that affects the most children
• 2 separate nat’l studies: About 33% of US teens
have been harassed or bullied
• Harassment more common (75% of teens
surveyed by UCLA study)
• 40% of online bullying is retaliation for in-school
(offline) bullying/harassment (Agatston, et al)
• Only 10% report to adults
• Developmental more than technological problem
Sources: Patchin and Hinduja, 2006; Pew/Internet, 2007; Journal
of School Health, 9/08; UNH’s CACRC, 2007
What is ‘Cyberbullying?’
• Emerging definition: 1) willful repeated
aggression; 2) associated with real life; 3) power
imbalance; and of course 4) via electronic devices
• Bully/victim overlap - 27% of teen girls
“cyberbully back”
• Online/offline: 40% of online bullying starts
offline
• How anonymous? 36% know bully at school; 28%
“know” bully online; 20% don’t know bully
Sources: UNH CACRC, ‘07; Agatston, Kowalski, Limber, ‘09;
Burgess-Proctor, Hinduja, Patchin, ‘09
Common types of cyberbulling
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Flaming
Harassment
Denigration
Impersonation
Outing & trickery
Exclusion /ostracism
Cyberstalking
Happy Slapping
Heated or angry online discussions
Messages meant to cause distress
Negative or false information
Being bad while impersonating
Sharing secret information
Removing or isolating people
Threatening a target
Video taping “slapping” someone
Source: Robin M. Kowalski, PhD
“ Recognizing and Treating Victim and Aggressor”- Psychiatric Times, Oct 2008
“Mean Girls”
Boys more likely to engage in physical bullying BUT
• Girls cyberbully more than boys (13% vs 9%)
• Girls also targeted more than boys (25% vs 11%)
• Girls’ “weapons”: insults, ostracism, rumors,
shared secrets
Source: Robin Kowalski, PhD, in Psychiatric Times
Picture from movie Mean Girls
What to tell kids facing
cyberbullying
• Don’t react (what the bully
usually wants)
• Don’t retaliate
• Block the bully
• Save the evidence
• Talk to a trusted adult
Don’t be a “not so innocent” bystander
When I was being bullied on the
bus, many times I asked for help
from bystanders who were quietly
watching me being bullied. They all
said ‘I don’t want to get involved.’
No one was asking them to get
involved; I was only asking them to
say stop.”
Brigette Berman, teenage author of Dorie Witt’s
Guide to Surviving Bullying (page 66)
Cyberbullying & sexting:
When schools can intervene
Need to find a nexus between speech and school:
• No: 1969 Tinker case said that schools can’t punish nondisruptive speech
• Yes: 1983 Fraser case said schools can punish lewd &
disruptive speech
• In Latour v. Riverside Beaver School District, judge said to
determine whether speaker means to communicate intent
to do serious bodily harm
• AB v. Indiana: Court in 2007 ruled in favor of student who
created a MySpace page critical of school policy - deemed
protected political speech
Reputational & legal safety
Freedom from social, legal & academic
consequences
‘Sexting’
• Nude or sexually explicit photo-sharing or
text messages
• Usually via cellphones, but possible via
other devices and Web
• Illegal when involving minors
• A few prosecutors have charged teens
with production, possession, distribution of
child porn
Non-legal consequences
• Emotional or reputational damage
• School discipline
• Invisible viewership – can be
forwarded to anyone
• Potentially searchable on the
Web, possibly forever
How common is sexting?
One study found that 1 in 5 kids had sent a “sext”
But a later study found that 9% had sent a sext
Sent a sext
9%
Received a Forwarded a sext
sext
3%
17%
Source: Cox Communications Teen Online & Wireless Safety Survey, 2009
People sent sext messages to
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Boyfriend or girlfriend
Someone had a crush on
Ex boyfriend/girlfriend
Best Friend
Friends other than best
Someone I don’t know
Classmates
Someone else
Decline to answer
20%
21%
19%
14%
18%
11%
4%
14%
3%
Source: Cox Communications Teen Online & Wireless Safety Survey, 2009
Did bad things happen after sexting?
The photo was forwarded to an authority figure and I got in trouble
2%
The photo was posted online where many people could see it
1%
The person I sent the photo to threatened to send it to someone else
4%
I accidentally sent the photo to the wrong person
2%
The persons I sent the photo to made fun of me
2%
The photo was forwarded to someone I didn't want to see it
2%
Source: Cox Communications Teen Online & Wireless Safety Survey, 2009. Based on
kids who sent texts (n=54)
Why do kids ‘sext’?
• Teen “romance” – expression of shared
intimacy with partner
• Flirting
• Showing off (party behavior)
• Impulsive risk-taking
• Peer pressure
• Revenge
• Bullying or intimidation
• Blackmail
What should a parent do?
• Have a family discussion, explain consequences
• If happens...
– Stay calm
– Make sure they stop immediately
• If image received, tell them not to forward it
• Talk with other parents & teens involved
• Think carefully before involving police (could
implicate your own child)
• More advice at ConnectSafely.org/sexting
When law enforcement needs
to be involved
• If intimidation, blackmail or
extortion is involved
• If someone is distributing images
• If groomed or pressured by an
adult
Image: Norman Rockwell “The Runaway”
1958 Saturday Evening Post cover
Youth behavior in context of
sexually charged culture
• Young people see what’s around them
• Young people are growing up in what sexual abuse
prevention specialist Cordelia Anderson has referred
to as a “sexually toxic culture.”
• Reinforced by media, fashion industry, TV, movies,
gaming, everywhere
Device security
Freedom from theft of identity &
property
Protect your devices &
yourself
• Can be a lesson in critical thinking.
• Teach kids about “social engineering”
• Teach kids to avoid dangerous “places” and
activities
• Teach kids to use security tools & keep them up to
date
Wider Expertise Needed
Police are great, but we also need
Psychologists
Physicians
Counselors
Social Workers
Youth workers
Clergy
Tech educators
Kids!
and others involved in the lives of young people
The learning gap
As social media are blocked by schools because
seen as unsafe, a great deal of informal
learning is barred from school, resulting in...
• Growing gap between formal and informal
learning
• Loss of school relevancy for youth
• Missed opportunity for both school and
students
Source:
Digital Youth Project,
November 2008
Why Web 2.0 is critical to the
future of education
“As Web 2.0 is then brought into the classroom, the very
nature of student work changes. When a student's work is
seen, and commented on, and collaboratively enhanced by a
larger participative audience, those students are drawn into
extended educational "conversations." In this way the
relationship of the student to ideas and content are no longer
constrained to the narrow avenue of interaction with their
teachers, but they are suddenly interacting with their peers
and others in the discovery, exploration, and clarification of
knowledge.”
Why Web 2.0 is Critical to the Future of Education
web20ineducation.wikispaces.com/
Web 2.0 Educational Shifts
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
From consuming to producing
From authority to transparency
From the expert to the facilitator
From the lecture to the hallway
From access to information to access to people
From learning about to learning to be
From passive to passionate learning
From presentation to participation
From publication to conversation
From formal schooling to lifelong learning
From supply-push to demand-pull
Source: Steve Hargadon (Why Web 2.0 is Critical to the Future of Education)
What we now know
From youth-risk research:
Harassment & cyberbullying =
most common risk
Not all youth are equally at risk
 A child’s psychosocial makeup & environment
are better predictors of online risk than the
technology he or she uses
 No single technological development can solve
youth online risk
The ‘Net effect’
How the Internet changes the equation...
• Disinhibition: Lack of visual cues reduces empathy
• Persistence & searchability: Net as permanent searchable
archive
• Replicability: ability to copy and paste from anywhere, to
anywhere
• Scalability: high potential visibility
• Invisible audiences: you never know who’s watching
• Blurring of public and private: boundaries not clear
Source: danah boyd: Taken out of
Context, 2008
New media literacy
+
Digital citizenship =
Net safety 3.0
(for the vast majority of young people)
One size does not fit all
Messages should be tailored to risk level
• Most kids need “primary” education which
includes media literacy, digital citizenship and
critical thinking
• Higher risk kids need more focused
“secondary” prevention taught by experts
• Highest risk kids need tertiary intervention
from youth workers, mental health
professionals
Next steps
• Engage industry and moderation companies in
discussion about citizenship & community building
• Encourage Net-safety advocates to incorporate OS3
into their messages
• Encourage educators to teach new media literacy &
citizenship with or without social-media tools
• Train the risk-prevention community in social
media
• Promote policy discussion about risk-prevention
model
Source:
Digital Youth Project,
November 2008
"We need to prepare kids
for their future,
not our past.”
—Dr. Richard Moniuskzko,
Assistant Superintendant,
Fairfax County Schools, Va.
Source:
Digital Youth Project,
November 2008
Thank you!
Larry Magid
larry@connectsafely.org
Presentation online @
www.SafeKids.com/mommy.ppt