NS Teens: Making Safer Online Choices

For the past month we have been running an ad campaign for NS Teens, which stands for Net Smartz Teens, a not-for-profit organization run by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Their goal is to help middle and high school students learn to make safer online choices.

My son is only seven years old but as he plays around with his digital video camera and films his friends I’ve already started to have conversations with him about the responsibility one has when filming others. We’re not even at the stage where he can share his digital creations, but I figure if he’s not filming irresponsibly that’s a good start, right?

Sometimes I think my son hears what I’m preaching teaching, but I wish I weren’t the only one talking to him about this subject. I can imagine that tweens and teens often tune out their parents when they bring up the issues of online privacy, cyberbullying, and their online reputation.

And, that’s why I’m a fan of NS Teens. They have short animated videos dramatizing potential real-life situations on subjects that I have seen even parents have a tough time navigating. But the animated videos are short, current and entertaining and better yet, speak to the kids in their language. Digital fingerprint this and online reputation that from us I’m sure doesn’t resonate as well.

There are five videos in total dealing with the subjects of information spreading out of control, aggression in online gaming, privacy on social networks, cyberbullying, and the impact of one’s online actions on their offline life.

I would encourage you to watch the videos yourself. We can all learn from them.

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Disclosure: This post is part of an advertising campaign for NS Teens to raise awareness for online safety for tweens and teens, something I wholeheartedly espouse.