Internet Safety

The Internet with all its wonders brought the whole wide world not only into our computers, but into our lives, homes, classroom, children's world, etc. Unfortunately it also brought danger in ways we still can not even imagine! Danger in different ways, for example when we talk about danger we think about something that could hurt us physically, but if you look for information and do not know what you are doing or how to identify a reliable site, any information gathered could be wrong and misleading. And this can be dangerous for the learning process. From the medical point of view, people are looking online for all kinds of information and diagnosis based on a few symptoms and following whatever advice they get instead of contacting their doctor or pharmacist, and this could end up with serious problems that by the time they get properly addressed is sometimes too late.
But, lets talk about the big bad wolf that hides inside the web, and reaches out into our children's bedroom and classrooms. They are so many predators out there, and with the growing number of families with 2 working parents outside of the home, it leaves our kids home alone with danger talking to them. Last year an alumni of our school who today is a detective in special unit that specializes in catching these predators came to our school and addressed our juniors and seniors. Not only he spoke to them about being alert to all the dangers predators can bring , but also showed them how easily any of them could be deceived by a sex offender, criminal or whatever. These individuals are not just your everyday "bad guy", many of them work as teachers, lawyers, doctors you name it, they come from all types of backgrounds even from your own neighborhood, and this is what scares me the most, no one can be trusted!
There is also another big danger that comes to our youth, and that is youth and ignorance itself! Kids today think they are so cool, and try stupid things all the time, and then go ahead and post it for all to see, you have the school bully, the "mean girls" they all can reach each other so easy over the web and hurt each other as much as if they where in person.
As great and useful the Internet is, it should not be a substitute for company, a good book, a good movie or quality family time. When we forget to share and do the basics of life we create a void in our life that gives room for danger to settle in very easy and attack.