Doing

For the "doing" part of my Internet safety assignment, I decided to talk to my mother, because I know that she worries about the safety on the computer a lot. Since I am the second youngest, she just has one child, my 17 year old sister, still at home. She is the mother of five girls, the oldest being 28 years old. Although my father is very tech-savvy because he works with computers, my mother is not as comfortable with technology and so we discussed safety precautions that can be taken. My dad has put all sorts of filtering systems on the computer to prevent pop ups and other thing that may have inappropriate or dangerous information on them. My mom decided a few years ago that the computer should be moved from the secluded basement area it used to be in to the upstairs family room right next to the kitchen, a nice open area. I told her that this was an excellent idea, and we discussed what else can be done to make sure the computer is used in a positive manner. I talked to her about the timing, about not wasting time on the computer, and she said that she wants to set time limits for my little sister, but just has not gotten around to enforcing it. She told me that she always sets a time limit for herself when she gets on the computer though, which I thought was setting a great example for her kids. We also discussed the fact that she cannot enforce too much though, because my little sister is older, and needs to make many of her own decisions. We talked about the good things about the Internet, and how you just need to be careful when you use it. I think it was a very positive experience to discuss these things with my mom, and I think it helped her to feel good about what she has done to make sure the computer is safe for her kids.