What a strange thing to say; but it isn’t me saying it, it is the very people we are trying to help stay safe.
A quick scan through some of the more popular social media sites and you won’t have any difficulty finding posts from children and young people about an e-safety lesson they’ve had; from the downright derogatory to the “I’m never going on Facebook again”.
This is concerning; if we are scaring young people or they are laughing in the face of it, then surely we are creating a risk not mitigating it? For the former the issues are potentially being forced underground; the risk here is that should anybody get into difficulty they may not feel they can talk to someone. For the latter they are either completely risk averse or possibly just don’t care, and therefore even more at risk.
Or are they? The latest research from FOSI (Calming Parental Anxiety while Empowering our Digital Youth) confirms a long-held belief that we adults are simply assuming the risks and dangers are far greater than they are. So are we using a sledgehammer to crack a nut? Are we targetting all children and young people rather than those whom we know or suspect to be at risk?
Here’s a thought I’m having and I would value your opinion: I think there are two sides to this; very generally speaking those at primary school and those at secondary and beyond.
Those at secondary school and beyond are far more likely to be connected, no not with the Mafia, but with a digital device, probably a mobile or smart phone; they are more likely to be experimenting sexually; peer pressure could be significantly greater; emotions are probably running all over the place and much more. This is a really difficult area to target but if we are to assume that most teenagers are comfortable with online privacy, risk-taking behaviour etc. then we can change focus to helping those at risk.
Does that mean we should stop any e-safety initiatives to the wider audience? No, positive reinforcement is always a good thing.
Primary children are a different ball game entirely. Again I’m speaking very generally, but one can assume that they are not yet fully aware of the big wide world.
Let me put it another way. It tore me apart when I had to put my dog, Neo to sleep at the beginning of this year. Before you think I’m 
comparing children to dogs, it’s an anology. Neo was the most gentle animal; I remember when a cat scratched his eyeball, the pain must have been horrendous but instead of reacting he licked the cat as if to say, “sorry my eye got in the way of your claws!” From a very early age he was subjected to every noise, every risk possible. He was taken on the bus, he was taken outside when the noisy binmen came, he was taken to the fireworks, he was introduced to other dogs and lots of children, into the city where there was lots of traffic and people….and much more. He knew exactly how to behave.
This is similar to young children; they are not going to learn a life skill in a lesson, they learn by doing things in a managed environment. There is very little point in the “don’t do this, do that, everyone is at risk, danger danger turn everything off” attitude I see from some “experts”. Over time the managed environment allows for continuous positive enforcement of e-safety skills, namely risk assessment and behaviour management. These skills have to be learned over time so that the younger children are empowered. By the time they take the leap from primary to secondary they are in possession of a valuable life skill. This is why e-safety must be embedded over a long period of time, not taught in a lesson. It is why adults who work with children (and of course parents) must have the knowledge and skills to fortify the embedding process, not simply download a video and an activity from the internet.
Anyway, this is just a few thoughts I am having rather than firm opinion. What are your thoughts and experiences? I would love to hear them.