Andrew Gustafson isn’t naïve when it comes to technology – or at least he thought he wasn’t.
That was until he attended an online safety talk for parents with his children’s school’s resource officer, Const. Rita Gillis.
“I thought I as a reasonably modern guy,” Gustafson said. “I left that presentation feeling very naïve.”
With a 12, nine and six-year-old at home, Gustafson knows the time is coming to consider a phone for his oldest son.
“He doesn’t have a phone and at what point does that change,” Gustafson said, adding more and more of his son’s friends are getting phones.
At home they have a computer, Ipads and Ipods, but no video games and no social media accounts for the kids. Even though Gustafson’s children have limited access to technology, he said he wanted to have more information about technology and how it could impact his children.
Gillis will lead the Online Safety Talk for Parents this Thursday (May 4) at 7 p.m. in the Holy Trinity Academy auditorium.
Kids are not invited because Gillis said there will be some graphic clips from video games.
Gillis said the talk is not intended to demonize the use of technology.
“I don’t want to come across as all doom and gloom,” she said. “There is a time and a place for technology.”
When parents clearly set out their expectations, they protect their children, she added. Supervising children’s use of technology is important, she said.
“If your child in chat rooms, they are accessible to anyone,” Gillis said, adding it’s very important to talk about what information they can and cannot share.
Parents should be on an even footing with their tech-savvy children, Gustafson said.
“Rita spends a lot of time staying aware of the technology changes,” he said.
One app Gustafson never heard of, that Gillis brought to light for him, is a shell app that creates a fake icon to make the app appear to be something else. For example, the app icon will look like the calculator icon, but when you click on it, it is the real app. It is a way for kids to hide apps they have downloaded, Gustafson explains.
“I’d never heard of that,” he says.
Another message he got from Gillis talk is there is no such thing as privacy when it comes to online activity.
“Rita’s advice is they no privacy – period,” he said. “You should take their device to review texts or social media anytime.”
Gillis also suggested creating a contract with your children with terms like no technology use in your bedroom or behind closed doors and no deleting messages. Breaking the terms would result in the technology being removed, Gustafson said.
Another issue parents need to be aware of is youths sending naked pictures to each other. It is a criminal offence that is gaining more notoriety. In Okotoks three teens last year were charged with child pornography offences related to taking videos of people in various levels of undress at parties on their cell phones. In some cases the videos were shared.
Gustafson also hopes Gillis talk will open up the line of communication between parents. Although technology is restricted in his household, Gustafson said he knows his children will have access at their friend’s homes.
“I want to be informed so I can talk to other parents to make sure they are on the same page,” he said. “It’s an awkward conversation to have, but if we can have those conversations organically, it makes it easier.”
