海角大神

Now for the good news in the youth part of Ottawa-based MediaSmarts鈥檚 report聽鈥�." (I previously highlighted the parents' section.) Well,聽mostly聽good news. It sounds as if 鈥�Internet safety education鈥� has made the youngest among the 11-to-17-year-olds that MediaSmarts talked with pretty paranoid: 鈥淔rom (11- and 12-year-olds') perspective, the Internet is a very dangerous place. They told us that sharing any information put them at risk of being kidnapped, assaulted by a stranger, and stalked.鈥� (This misinformation is called education?)

And how sad, because 鈥� even though 鈥渢hey demonstrated strong resilience when it came to dealing with both offensive content and unwanted conversations with strangers 鈥� clicked out of offensive sites, (and) knew not to talk to strangers鈥� 鈥� they had been taught all this was necessary because 鈥減eople were not trustworthy,鈥� they told MediaSmarts.

So here鈥檚 a mere sampler of the good news MediaSmarts turned up in a series of 12 in-depth conversations with 66 young people:

• General state of their safety: They showed 鈥渟trong resilience about dealing with 鈥榗reeps鈥欌�� and 鈥渁lmost universally limit online interactions鈥� to people they know offline. 鈥淐hat rooms were universally seen as dangerous.鈥�
• Friendship expressed online (intelligently): Young people have 鈥渁 clearly defined set of rules about what friends post 鈥� and do not post 鈥� about friends. Personal attacks were generally forbidden and a sign that a friendship was at an end鈥�. Pictures were highly regulated by all of our participants鈥�. An unrealistic number of online 鈥榝riends鈥� was seen as inauthentic and a sign of desperation [Note that a protective social norm is developing here.]鈥�. 鈥楽pam statuses鈥� were an indicator that someone was seeking an inappropriate amount of attention and was therefore not a desirable friend."
• They see the need to disconnect, too: 鈥淎lthough a few of our participants told us that losing access to the online world, even for a week, would be catastrophic, many of them talked about the need to retreat in order to re鈥恊stablish a sense of privacy.鈥� (So many adult "pundits" seem so proud of having thought of this 鈥� books have been written about it, even.)
• Cyberbullying, resilience and good strategies: Youth find online meanness easier to deal with than the offline kind, MediaSmarts found. That鈥檚 because the visibility of online interaction 鈥渓eaves a digital trail 鈥� [and] lets them challenge bullies publicly and hold them to account.鈥� They 鈥渄emonstrated a strong resiliency when it came to cyberbullying鈥� and 鈥渃lear strategies: first, ignore it and de鈥恌riend or block the person (typically a very successful strategy); if it continues, then confront the bully face鈥恡o鈥恌ace because it is easier to call someone to account in person; and if that does not work or you are not comfortable talking to the person directly, call in your parents and they will help you resolve the conflict.鈥�
• Big caveat about school intervention, though: 鈥淎lmost all 鈥� were disdainful of school anti鈥恇ullying programs; they felt that, in general, teachers and principals did not understand the kinds of problems they might face and only made things worse when they intervened."
• Surveillance nation (more noteworthy than good news): Young people feel 鈥渢he Internet is now a fully monitored space where parents, teachers and corporations keep them under constant surveillance,鈥� so they see 鈥減arental monitoring鈥� as 鈥渢he price of admission鈥� for being able to use connected devices. But, unsurprisingly, they鈥檙e forgiving too: 鈥淚n spite of their frustration with parental monitoring, almost all our participants felt their parents were acting out of good intentions,鈥� MediaSmarts found.
• About parental monitoring: 鈥淭he teenagers who did share the details of their lives with their parents were the ones who were not routinely monitored. Trust in this case was mutual,鈥� indicating that 鈥渕onitoring alone may work聽against聽open family dialogue.鈥�

Practices by age levels

• Tweens鈥� interest in exploration and pranks: 鈥淭he Internet was particularly useful when [11- and 12-year-olds] wanted to learn more about things they would encounter in the future, like places they were going to visit on family vacations, high school and jobs. This kind of exploration provided them with a safe way to 鈥榬ehearse鈥� things and become more comfortable with teenage and adult roles.鈥� They鈥檙e also into 鈥溾�榩ranks and 鈥榯rolls,鈥� where someone would fool you and misdirect you to the wrong site on purpose.鈥� While this may be seen as a risk, it also teaches critical thinking: 鈥淧ranks helped them learn how not to be fooled.鈥�
• Early teens (13- and 14-year-olds): MediaSmarts noted how much this age group 鈥渆njoyed online humour and sites that allowed them to post anecdotes and read silly things that other people had done. They enjoyed laughing at and laughing with others who did things that were foolish or silly, and found comfort in the fact they were not the only ones who were likely to do something 'stupid.'鈥� Some engaged in social action, but 鈥渢he main uses of networked technologies were for connecting with friends and self鈥恊xpression.鈥� While 11- and 12-year-olds found social networking 鈥渂oring,鈥� 13- and 14-year-olds find social media use an 鈥渋mportant way to communicate their feelings, so they could better understand themselves and their social interactions鈥� 鈥� though feeling under constant surveillance by adults, as all the age levels did, 鈥渕ade it difficult for them to express themselves for fear of reprisal.鈥�
• Older teens聽use social media 鈥渢o talk to friends, organize events and gatherings, follow celebrity gossip 鈥� access YouTube videos to learn how to do things like dance" 鈥� "keep in touch with friends,鈥� and access 鈥渢he outside world.鈥� Because they feel so closely monitored by the adults in their lives, 鈥渁nonymous online self鈥恊xpression [such as blogging under a pseudonym] 鈥� played an important role in helping older teens make sense of the social world and their place in it.鈥� (It may also help explain why聽Twitter use by this age group is now growing fast).

So note the confidence in young people this conclusion from MediaSmarts shows: 鈥淚n spite of widespread concerns on the part of adults, the young people we spoke with聽were aware of online risks, largely self鈥恟egulated their own behaviours to avoid and manage those risks, and consistently demonstrated resiliency and competence in their responses to those risks.鈥�

Based on this research and so many other inputs, isn鈥檛 it time to shift the focus of 鈥淚nternet safety education鈥� from avoidance to literacy 鈥� the digital, media, and social literacy that supports their聽current聽efforts to turn digital media into tools for effective work, play, communication, and activism in social digital-media environments (as well as offline ones, of course)?

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