Family Tech Policy

I wrote about kids’ online safety & behavior and the parents’ role in making them good netizens two weeks ago. In that article, I said I would provide some tools and tips for staying savvy. This week, I am writing about family tech policies and rules that could keep our kids safe online.

Rosalind Wiseman, author of just-rereleased Queen Bees and Wannabes, was asked to share her own family technology policy (Wiseman’s kids are 6 and 8). Here it is:

 “Technology can be really fun to use, and it gives us incredible access to the world, but it is a privilege not a right, and because it is a privilege, you have the responsibility to use it ethically. What using technology ethically looks like to me is that you never use it to humiliate, embarrass … or misrepresent yourself or someone else, never use a password without the person’s permission, never share embarrassing information or photos of others, put someone down, or compromise yourself by sending pictures of yourself naked, half-naked or in your underwear. Remember that it is so easy for things to get out of control. You know it, I know it. So I reserve the right to check your online life, from texting to your Facebook page, and if I see that you’re violating the terms of our agreement, I’ll take your technology away until you can earn my trust back. This is my unbreakable, unshakeable law.”

That says it all. Every family needs to have a technology policy at home. It will help educate your youngsters on cyber citizenship and also, doing right things at the right time. Today’s technology has a lot of potential for educating our kids but at the same time, if not used properly, could become very distractive. It is very important to establish with your child early on that technology should be used only when needed and the use is driven by purpose. It is useful to establish a routine on when technology is used for fun or for work. Both can’t be mixed. Kindly be aware that we can perform some routine or repetitive tasks, while listening to music or parallely downloading something, but not the creative tasks. The belief that today’s kids multi-task and still do their work well, is a myth. Many research have proven that the quality of work goes down when kids multi-task rather than focus on the work in hand. Given this, it is important for parents to guide their kids well by establishing rules on the time spent on the internet or listening to music or watching YouTube.

Next is the online content your kids are watching/browsing. It is very important that parents monitor their kids online activities. Either the kids access the internet in a common place or if they access it in their room, the door should be open for the parents to have a quick glance on what the kids are doing. If your kids switch windows on the screen when you walk by or you suspect something, it is better to look at the browsing history. All internet browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox etc.) record the pages visited by the kids. Parents must educate themselves to browse history or access the temporary internet files to keep a watch on their kids online activities (I will explain how to browse history or access the temporary internet files in my next week’s article).

Though it is important for you, as parents to establish the rules and enforce them, these activities provide nice opportunities to educate the kids on what we value and stand for. In addition, they also provide opportunities for conversations and interactions with your kids on their online interests and pursuits, which could be educative for both the kids as well as the parents.

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