Interacting+with+others

= Interacting and communicating with others =

**Introduction: ** An overwhelming realisation from this module is that  more and more children are spending time online, on their cellphones, mainly to stay connected with each other. They have amassed 'friends' through social networking sites and are never far from texting or chatting someone either on the Internet or on their cellphones. This is a huge part of their lives. //"The survey, carried out for National Family Week, showed that 27.5 percent of children picked “Facebook/Twitter/MSN” when asked “What is the most important thing to you?” Family still won overall with 60.4 percent, but even mobile phones were considered one of the most important things to 8.2 percent of those asked."// [|Kids find social networking more important than family].

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**Social networking** There are many social networking sites for older children (R13) including [|Facebook], [|MySpace][|Twitter][|Flickr][|YouTube][|Ning] [|Xanga][|Friendster]Bebo and for younger children include [|Webkinz][|Club Penguin][|Sanrio, Town][|Kidzui][|Neopets][|Boom Bang TV][|Shidonni][|Moshi Monsters]. We will touch on two of the most popular, Moshi Monsters and Facebook.

**Moshi Monsters** is a very popular site with younger children (15 millions users worldwide). It encourages them to go collecting friends. [|Moshi monsters] is a safe game but can teach bad habits about collecting friends as well as the 'need' to feed your animal every day, which can be addictive. For more on Moshi Monsters, go to [|Moshi please]. **Facebook** is so popular, statistics show around 250 million people are registered account users. [|Facebook] is also R13 and has it's own inherent set of issues. For an in-depth look at Facebook's privacy issues and more, go to Protecting your Facebook identity.

Other issues with social networking include sites such as Formspring. This is a questions and answers website. [|Formspring] allows its users to set up a profile page, from which anyone can ask them questions and also post comments. The questions and their given answers (often brutally honest) are then published on the user’s profile page. It can open the door for harassment and bullying, due to the anonymity of the entries. For more on Formspring, go to [|http://www.digitalparents.org/what-every-parent-should-know-about-formspring]



Some other ways to connect is through Skype and **video** networking sites such as [|Stickam] that streams real-time webcam footage. This is a great way for connecting families and friends - all around the world. However, some sites you need to be very weary of. Chatroulette, which is a website that pairs random strangers from around the world together for webcam-based conversations. For more information on the issues with [|Chatroulette], go to []

Anyone can take videos of themselves, upload these to Youtube or stream **video** from their webcam. Most of which captures some loving memories. Again this can lead to some distastrous consequences if inappropriate material is created, shared and spread on the Internet. Once the material has been sent, there is no way of retrieving it fully. For more on video sharing explanations, facts, pitfalls and helpful tips, go to []

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**Gaming** is another way for young people to connect with others through virtual worlds. Gaming can be extremely fun and some are educational and good for the brain. Gaming can involve downloading software or playing online. Games can range from poker (which can be highly addictive) to arcade type games with chat facilitates. It used to be that if you wanted to play with others, you needed to be in the same room, but now with the Internet, multi-player means you can play with anyone who happens to be in the same game at the same time as you. Massive multi-player games are very popular, especially those that involve strategy and role-play, but beware, games like [|Call of Duty] and [|Grand Theft Auto] have R18 ratings but primary school children are playing them. Is this your child?

Get to know the **games** and find out how they operate. Also investigate game ratings, how safe they are and what private information is requested. Double check to see the games age appropriate, the material decent and the language acceptable. Enforce all the privacy rules you would normally advocate. Be aware of any social networking dangers within the games themselves. Bookmark and let the kids play the good games and set time limits for playing these. For common sense tips, go to [] and try [|Netsafe's Parents & Caregivers - Gaming]

[|Banning social networks] won't work and will only drive kids to go underground. They will find other ways to connect and maybe lie to you in the process. We need to be able to teach our children how use the Internet and social networks responsibly. Issues and challenges include excessive time spent online and more serious issues can include, grooming, cyberbullying, flaming and sexting. For more explanations of these, go to Online safety issues and Protecting self and others.

**Suggestion: ** <span style="color: #223f2c; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Become familiar with <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|social networking sites] and in particular, your child's social networking pages. How does it work, what are the privacy settings? Ensure children understand that when people have a thousand friends on Facebook, not everyone is good just because people have a happy photo in their profile. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Also rememb <span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">er to keep them safe, by ensuring they don't give out too much private information (full name, address, phone numbers) and keep it real - know who they are communicating with. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[]

<span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Teach [|safe video chatting practices], get familiar with [|gaming advice for parents] and teach them how to be [|'game smart'].

<span style="color: #9f0909; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**Communicating online** - also see **Communicating via cellphone** <span style="color: #223f2c; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Appropriate conduct, content and communication are a must when connecting with others online. Are you aware of the kind of language and messages your children send out to the world? As it has always been with teenagers, it is no surprise that young people are smart enough to let you think one thing and then act in another manner. For example, have you heard of Code 9? This is a message that users can use to alert each other when there's an adult in the room, so that made-up conversations can replace the real ones in an instant message. [] For more on the issues relating to communicating online, go to <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|NetSafe's Parents & Caregivers - communicating]

<span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">** As mentioned before, Cyber bullying** is a huge problem amongst young people. Most people who are bullied know the perpetrator and are often too scared to speak out against them. Cyber bulling can take the form of one person or a group of people harassing others. This includes, peer pressure, put downs, flaming, name calling - through to more extreme <span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">cases of threats of violence, messages of hate, bribery, psychological abuse and extortion. [] For more on Cyberbullying for children, parents and educators, go to []

<span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">One of the worse stories on cyber bullying was when an 11 year old girl was harrassed, threatened with death threats after she posted a video message back to her online cyber bullies when she was in [|Stickam] .<span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> []

<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #223f2c; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">For more discussions on communicating via cellphones go to Communicating via Cellphones. For ways to protect your children from cyber bullying, go to <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; color: inherit; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|Netsafe's Parents & Caregivers - Cyberbullying]

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<span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">**<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Recommendation: ** <span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Become better informed about all social networking sites and services. A fantastic place to start, is the following resource,<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[] which unpacks social networking tips for children. It looks at the positive and negative effects of social networking and walks through <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">How to Choose a Safe Social Network For more in-depth information on on social networks, go to <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[] and <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|NetSafe's Parents & Caregivers - Social Networking Sites]

<span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Get familiar with your child's 'chat lingo' and If your kids are using chat rooms or instant messaging tools, then get familar with some <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|Top Chat Tips] and parenting tips @ <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|A Parent Guide to Chatting Online] Share the following website with your teenager - <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|Netsafe's resources for Young people - Communicating]

<span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Keep an eye on your child for any signs of cyber bullying and act accordingly to protect and keep them safe from any psychological harm. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; padding-right: 10px;">[]

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 * <span style="color: #9f0909; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Additional resources to consider **

<span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">http://ictpd-digital-citizenship-at-home.wikispaces.com/Mobile+techonologies
 * <span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Communicating via cellphones - this module **

<span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">[]
 * <span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> NetSafe resources for parents **

<span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">[]
 * <span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">SafetyWeb resources - Social Networks **

<span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">[]
 * <span style="color: #173519; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Online games **