One In Eight Kids Sexually Approached On The Net
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Amid alarming statistics about what kids encounter on the Net, including one in eight being sent unwanted sexual solicitations, one in nine being “cyberbullied” and more than one in four admitting they have made rude or nasty comments on the Internet, Virginia is leading other states in doing something about these widely acknowledged problems.
This school year, Virginia is requiring that public schools offer Internet safety classes for children in every grade.
Here’s a sample of a real profile posted on a social networking site, probably MySpace or Facebook, shown on a screen at the front of a high school class:
Screen Name: hotliftgirl (reads hot little fly girl to those who know teen codes)
Age: 15
Enjoy: Being around boys
Interests: Meeting new people
The next screen digs a little deeper into her identity. “She” is a 31-year-old man who’s already been convicted of abusing 11 children contacted on the Internet. Charges including child pornography and forcible sodomy netted him a 45-year prison term.
Luckily for Virginia tweens and teens (children between 10 and 17 receive the highest percentage of unwanted sexual approaches, with 13 to 16 being the highest risk years) this offender is now offline.
Virginia is taking this responsibility very seriously. The presenter in this classroom was an assistant state attorney general, and the state also helps schools educate parents about online danger, using filtering software and placing computers in public areas of their homes.
Texas and Illinois have also passed laws recommending that schools adopt Internet safety training programs, but have not joined Virginia in making training mandatory.
A number of other states are considering Internet safety laws, according to Judi Westberg Warren, president of Web Wise Kids, a non-profit organization funded by companies including Verizon and Symantec who have partnered with the federal government to provide schools with free Internet safety training for youths 11 to 16.
Preteen Internet programs more often focus on cyberbullying, especially since the 2006 suicide of a 13-year-old girl in a small Missouri town related directly to being cyberbullied.
Some states have passed laws against cyberbullying, including harassing and spreading gossip, and many school districts across the country provide anti-bullying education.
MySpace, the favored social networking site among American teens, has responded to growing pressure about content and danger online by agreeing to work with 49 states on a task force to find the best ways to protect youths from online sexual predators and bullies.