You love your children and would protect them from anything harmful, right? Well, even the best parents can be unaware what a dangerous place the internet can be. Most people see the internet as a great tool and a place where the potential for learning knows no bounds. Make It Work loves to promote what a wonderful place the internet can be. But, as with most things, we also warn our community of the potential dangers. One perfect example is the story of Jessica Leonard.
Jessica Leonard became an internet celebrity for the wrong reasons.
Jessica Leonard known as “Jesse Slaughter” online, is an 11-year-old, self-proclaimed “scene queen” who once enjoyed posting her own videos on YouTube. Most of her posts were very rude and incredibly unsavory. The infamous 4chan forum soon learned about this girl and started provoking her via their massive discussion boards. In response to this perfect case of cyber bullying, Jesse posted a video where she rants how her haters were just cowards. Her statement was an expletive filled rant, ending in a threat to her attackers.
When 4chan discussion boards saw this video response, they set their focus immediately on her. She was raided, and participants in the 4chan forum soon had all of her personal information. They knew her real name, address, phone number, school, and birthday. Soon they started ordering pizza’s to her house, prank-calling her, and doing many other things that this family-oriented blog is unwilling to say.
Jesse’s life was ruined by these 4chan bullies; this was obvious when she posted her breakdown on YouTube. Her father is seen in the background, yelling that he, “Back-traced all the haters” and they, “Dun goof’d up!” And that the, “Cyber-police” would come arrest them.
But who really goof’d up here?
First and foremost a child should never get to the point that Jessica did. The deep hole that Jessica fell into could have been caught way before it got nearly this bad. Jessica’s parents did not monitor their child’s internet use before the situation became so bad. Rather than create boundaries and monitor Jessica’s internet use they aggravated an already bad situation by becoming a part of it.
This is definitely an extreme example. There is no question of that. Jessica’s situation was clearly terrible, but it could have gotten worse. Most children have the self-restraint and the proper upbringing to understand that what Jessica did was hazardous to her own well being. But just because your child is not a foul-mouthed brat doesn’t mean your child might not be targeted by a powerful internet presence like the 4chan community or any other praying person.
So be cautious, but know that the internet is a great thing, there is much more potential for good than bad, but there will always be that darker side. We at Make It Work encourage you to take all things into consideration; don’t allow this post to scare you into cutting your child off completely. Become informed and teach your child about proper internet behavior, with these quick tips!
1. BE AWARE!
• Take time to educate yourself. Information is constantly changing.
• Pat yourself on the back for coming tonight!
2. THE INTERNET IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF YOUR CHILD’S LIFE
• Necessary for school work, etc
• It is not going away.
3. EASY ACCESS – THE INTERNET IS EVERYWHERE
• Accessible through cell phones, iPod Touch
• Video games now integrate online social networking, chat, etc.
4. THE INTERNET IS PERMANENT
• Once content is posted on the Internet (i.e. photos, videos, text), anyone that goes online has access to it, as well as the ability to save it for personal use.
5. ESTABLISH RULES & LIMITATIONS
• Discuss hours of use, supervision expectations
• Sample ‘Internet Usage Contract’ found at www.poogling.com
6. CONSIDER INSTALLING HARDWARE/SOFTWARE
• Blocking/Filtering software : Prevents users from accessing inappropriate websites
• Moinitoring software: Records every key stroke made on computer
7. SOCIAL NETWORKING – EVERYONE IS DOING IT
• FACEBOOK – 350 million active users; TWITTER – 75 million users
• 425 million total active users combined!
8. PEOPLE NOT NECESSARILY “FRIENDS” WITH YOUR CHILD MAY STILL HAVE ACCESS TO THEIR ONLINE ACCOUNTS
• This includes photos, personal profile information
• Look into the security settings on your child’s online profiles and make necessary changes.
9. CYBER-BULLYING IS REAL
• It takes less courage and energy to participate in cyber-bullying when users are anonymous.
• Can cause real and extreme emotional distress
10. BE ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN YOUR CHILD’S ONLINE LIFE
• Show your children fun and educational ways to use the Internet – knowledge is power!
• Join Facebook, etc. add your child as a “friend” and monitor their account activity.
Interested in getting some one on one help from a certified Make It Work Technician? Give us a call at (877) 625-3489. We’re in the neighborhood, we’ll be right over.