News
25/03/2008
Scouts support strategy for safer surfing
News of a national strategy for child internet safety has been welcomed by The Scout Association. The strategy, which has been set out for government, includes recommendations for classifying computer video games and codes of practice for social networking sites. It has implications both for young people and their parents.
The aim is to bring social networking sites and video games under the same sort of scrutiny and regulation as films and alcohol. One proposal is a gold standard for the use of console games and a call for clear standards on privacy and harmful content.
Child psychologist Dr Tanya Byron, who conducted the study behind the paper suggests that parents are currently struggling with emerging technologies and keeping up with what young people are viewing online.
‘Ironically parents' concerns about risk and safety of their children in the streets and outside has driven a generation of children indoors,’ she said. ‘where it could be argued they are being exposed to a whole new set of risks.’
The Scout Association, which has recently launched KidsOutdoors - a campaign to inspire a million new outdoor adventures, has also launched a brand new website. www.kidsoutdoors.com It challenges young people to submit video, blogs and images about their experiences. When reports suggest that young people are spending up to 20 hours a week online, the site aims to strike a balance between productive use of technology and healthy lifestyles.
The advice on KidsOutdoors is to use common sense at all times, just as you would when going outdoors: don't give out personal contact details such as email, passwords, home/school address or telephone numbers.
‘It’s an unfortunate reality that there are predators online,’ said an Association spokesperson, 'but you will also find them in the supermarket, on the bus, or looking at the Harry Potter novels in the library; they don’t only exist on the internet. And just as we educate young people not to talk to strangers in the street, so too we can teach them to be aware and on their guard online.’
‘What we need to do is treat the internet much like we teach young people to use fire,’ suggests Mark Foster of the First Facebook Scout Group. It can be a very useful tool but we need to be aware of the dangers too. '
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