Family Online Safety Institute

Here's a range of really useful documents to help you make the Internet a safe and positive experience for your family:

	Top Internet Safety Tips for Parents
	Internet Safety Tips for Kids
	Children's Bill of Rights for the Internet A colourful poster designed to be printed out and displayed right next to your child's computer to remind them that they have a right to be safe!
	The Family Online Internet Safety Contract This is a terrific way to start a conversation with your children and help them to keep themselves safe.

Around the world educators are embracing computer technology as part of their curriculums. Access to the Internet is part of this trend and increasingly shaping the lives of children and young people as never before.

One has only to look at the dramatic increase in the availability of Internet access in schools in more developed countries, to realize that educational institutions are often where they first experience the Internet, or at the very least, become an important access point.

The National Center for Education Statistics report on Internet Access in US Public Schools and Classrooms 1994-2005 and the Pew Internet & American Life Project in the United States track both the growth and challenges.

In Europe the trend is much the same. The European Commission’s funded European Schoolnet Portal shows the breadth of initiatives within EU Member States.

Parents play a pivotal role in how their children come to use and benefit from the Internet. Few would dispute the positive impact that new technologies are having on childhood, but there is an underlying concern amongst adults about how they can best protect their family from inappropriate content and contact.

Resources and advice for Parents around the World

The Family Online Safety Institute brings together in one place some of the best online resources and advice from around the world. Its important that parents take the time to understand not only the benefits of using computers, but talk to the children about how they use them. In the mid-nineteen nineties, before the emergence of the Internet, children were already using computers for education and entertainment. For most adults, it was predominantly a productivity device and becoming a fact of life for most businesses. Even then, children used computers differently and as the Internet emerged, so this gap became wider.

As we entered the new millennium, a new generation was emerging that had never known a world without the Internet. A generation gap between parents and children was being made wider by children pursuing online lives that their parents did not understand. Some have characterised this as the difference between ‘digital natives’ (children) and ‘digital immigrants’ (adults). For the most part, having taught themselves, children are now using online access in a way inconceivable even five years ago. They create content, communicate, learn and have fun. They also face risks (predation, bullying and do things they should not), just like in the real world. Indeed, they see very little separation between these two worlds.

At the Family Online Safety Institute our members are working hard to ensure this generational divide is being bridged. They provide tools, technology and guidance for both parents and their children. Why not take a look at the Web Site Directories for some of the best examples of Internet guidance around the world, our Useful Tools section or take a look at our Broadcast pages to listen to industry experts discussing the issues, challenges and solutions.

The nature of new technology sees the continual emergence of new trends amongst young people. Three of the more concerning behaviours in 2009 have been examined in detail in the following reports.

	Cyberbullying
	Sexting
	Self harm in the digital age