Learning to stay safe online

Students from Oceanside’s School 5 took a field trip to Oceanside Middle School on Dec. 14 to learn about Internet safety from their fellow students in a seminar hosted by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy.

The seventh grade students at OMS presented slide shows in the library that they made in their Tech Media class, covering topics about cyber safety that children have to deal with—cyber bullying, music downloading, keeping information private, social networking and fair use. The seminar was part of Cablevision’s Internet Smarts Program.

“As the leading Internet service provider in the area…we realized we can’t just drop the technology off, whether it be at homes or here at school,” said Trent Anderson, vice president of Cablevision’s Power to Learn. “And so we’ve, over the last six years, developed the Internet Smarts Program—a free resource for parents and teachers with versions for both, that allows adults to learn about the issues that kids are facing.”

The seventh grade students presented their slideshows to the sixth graders, giving them advice for how to use the Internet safely: never meet someone you met online in person; if you’re bullied online, be sure to tell a parent or other trusted adult, like a teacher; don’t post personal information on social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace; and, if you download songs illegally, you could be fined up to $125,000 per song if you're caught.

McCarthy noted that adults, too, are not always aware of the dangers of the internet. “You can see that with all the fraud that goes on… We’re afraid because more and more we see about a stranger getting onto Facebook and just chatting back and forth and meeting with [children],” she said.

After the five short presentations were given, the sixth graders answered questions based on the information they were just taught by their peers, using interactive answering devices in the library.