Dear friends,

It is true that we are quite worried about what our children read, see or do on the internet. Many experts have been warning us about online safety and the dangers that lurk out there.

Electronic communication and social networking sites undoubtedly create a new tool of development and education. Like every human achievement and progress there is as well a dark side to it.

The question is how bad is for our teens to participate on electronic social networking and other online spaces? Is our quest for safety gone too far?

Research shows that curtailing the participation of teens in these spaces may deny them significant educational and psychosocial benefits of the online social environments.  

Read more about this interesting issue in the article Benefits and dangers for children and teens of online interaction that you will find attached with our 81st Progressive Insurance Newsletter. The internet and all the new forms of communication is a new, continuously evolving context in which the children, the families, the parents and the educators have to constantly adapt.     

As researche has shown, there are many benefits that our children may get from online social networking sites and other spaces. Among them is a better development of cognitive skills that are consistent with those required in educational settings and perspective-taking skills that are necessary for citizenship, in an increasingly multiracial society.

Definitely we cannot ignore the negative aspects of online activities. However we need to find a balance between risks and benefits.

Instead of demonizing and becoming too much protective or prohibitive we need to develop alternative strategies for our children. Our aim should be that they can get the benefits and minimize the risk of negative effects.

By talking with them about these issues, by educating them about internet and online networking sites as soon as their psychomotor development allows it and by increasing their awareness and technical or in depth knowledge of online activities, we can offer them the necessary preconditions for a correct, fruitful use and behavior on the net.

Our Quote:

"There is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it."

Napoleon Hill