Kids and the Web.

Chana has a great post (her unedited notes) summarizing a shiur in Chicago at Congregation KINS about Internet Safety. The lecture was for adults. Speakers included Rabbi Harvey Well, Rabbi Zev Cohen, Rabbi Norman Lowenthal and Rabbi David Pelcovitz.

As a parent, I don't think it's alarmist; rather it presents a frank view of the pitfalls of the internet for children.

I found this paragraph telling:

[At the] Turn of [the] century, [there were] many reasons why their children may not have remained shomer shabbas, [kept] mitzvoth, [and] kashrus - one of those reasons is because parents didn’t understand [the] language, [and] culture - [this is] no longer an option for us to say I can’t turn on [the] computer on until [our] son comes home from yeshiva - [it's] not funny when you can’t fix [your] computer till son comes home - children need to know this valuable tool is something we understand also.

We are digital immigrants; our children are digital natives.

While I personally like to believe I'm a digital native, technology moves so quickly that we need to be quick on our toes to keep up.

I found it impressive that the shiur was sponsored by ATT.

When you have some time, I highly recommend reading her posting.


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael