I watched a re-broadcast of Growing Up Online tonight. This is an excellent, nuanced treatment of issues with kids online, including cyber-bullying and online predators.
This chapter on Ryan Halligan rips at my heart:
My daughter Gabrielle is in middle school as well, and the thought of her being attacked online is difficult to think of. I’m glad our computers are in public places, and I think she’s a smart kid who knows what’s right and wrong, and knows how to take care of herself … but social pressure is intense at this age. It’s something we’ll have to discuss – perhaps after watching that chapter together.
On a brighter note, it was neat to see danah boyd on the show (in other chapters) supplying some good insight on what’s going on in kid’s online worlds … which essentially, are their worlds.