Scottish Church Guides Children to Safe Surfing on the Internet
Episcopal News Service. October 23, 2002 [2002-246-6]
Scottish church guides children to safe surfing on the Internet
Worries about children unwittingly 'talking' to strangers on the Internet and giving out vital personal or family information have prompted the Scottish Episcopal Church to launch a children's guide to safe surfing.
The church's four-page leaflet offers advice on enjoying the Internet without risk, and net-savvy children and their parents are being encouraged to download the information (at www.scotland.anglican.org/SafeSurfing.doc).
The church, which is part of the Anglican Communion, has distributed the leaflet to its 350 churches throughout Scotland. 'There has been a lot of demand for this material,' said Barbara Steele, the church's child protection officer. 'The subject keeps coming up. People are generally very worried about what children can come across on the Internet.'
Children as young as nine are using chat rooms, says Steele, who is worried that they are not being as careful about giving out information in chat rooms as they are in the street. She told ENI: 'Children, particularly the hearing-impaired and those who can't communicate in other ways, find chat rooms incredibly liberating, but they may not have thought it through.'
In the leaflet she advises: 'If an adult you didn't know met you in the street, you wouldn't give them any personal details. You should treat people you meet on the net the same as someone you met in the street.'
Youngsters are urged to use nicknames in chat rooms, not their real names, and to tell an adult they trust if they have got in too deep. 'The person you met on the net will probably say you shouldn't tell anyone because you will get into trouble, or your parents or carer will throw you out. This won't be true,' says the leaflet.
As a backup to other sources of help, Steele has included her own phone number for children to use. She said: 'I'm not expecting floods of calls, but we'll see. Part of my life is to be on call.'