Internet Safety Interview: "Doing"

~I talked to a very close family friend of mine who is my little sisters best friend. She is 14 years old and in 8th grade.

~ We discussed some of the things that she liked to do online. She said she usually goes on AIM and checks her brothers facebook. I asked if she went into chat rooms as she said she did at times, but did not talk to anyone she did not know. I shared with her some information I learned about the dangers of going into chat rooms online as well as the terrible effects of cyberbullying. She shared with me something she had read in a magazine about a girl committing suicide after being cyber bullied. I talked with her about how hurtful cyberbullying can be (explainging a story about my friend who's little sister is moving to a different school because of being a victim of cyberbullying), and how important it is to make sure never to get involved in any type of gossip about others, especially online. I also told her about the importance of staying out of chat rooms and never revealing any type of personal information online to anyone. She understood the dangers and watched the cyberbullying video, " You Can't Take It Back" on nesmartz.com. She took all this information very well, and was shocked by some of the information I had learned of from the class videos about the online predators and bullying. This was a very positive conversation, in which she said she learned a lot of important things that she can also remind her friends about.