A New book for parents
The book "The cyber-Safe Child" will provide you with the terminology you need, to make cyber-safety accessible in your conversations with your children. It will provide you with a deep and profound way to engage in that conversation.
The book touches upon a variety of subjects weaving a thread between them - starting with the basic challenge of teaching our children:
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"How to understand another person better, including my close friends and family?"
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"How to trust another person and move from 'do not talk to strangers' as a child to 'meeting new people' as an adult?"
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"How to make sure I'm not too easily influenced by others, nor act without thinking?"
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"How does the Internet affect the previous 3 questions?"
The path to Cyber-Safety isn't just about being cautious of
strangers and their content,
but rather learning when to trust them
and under what conditions
About me
My name is Netzer Shohet. A husband and a father of 3. For the past 2 decades I was part of, and led, research and development of cyber security products. I also have past experience as a teacher and an instructor.
The book tells my personal story of the years, prior to its creation. Years in which I took charge of teaching my children online safety.
I believe the broad, methodological and deep insights, which I used to rise to the challenge, using my life experience, will help other parents who are looking for the words to approach the subject with their children
As children we were taught not to talk to strangers.
As adults the terminology changes to "meeting new people",
who are also strangers at the outset.
Were we taught in an organized manner to transition between the first to the latter?
The internet made our first encounter with strangers much earlier than ever,
increased tremendously the amount of strangers at our doorstep,
and made a pre-existing problem much more profound and critical.
About the book
The goal of the book is to increase the chances of our children being safe as they go out into the virtual (and real) world. It is aimed at minimizing the change of being "called to action" that might hurt them or others, by a person or content they encountered online. As an added bonus, the same skill set will also will help them communicate with their peers in a more attentive manner.
The book describes a path, which builds the terminology needed for discussing cyber-safety, and allows us to talk with our children about any complexity or danger the internet might pose, whether the book specifically discussed it or not.
The book deep-dives into the specific intricacies of the internet, yet its outlines are relevant offline as well. Every person, even with no internet in our lives, grows up into a world full of new people, and needs to select carefully who to trust, who to listen to, and who to allow entering into their lives.
The book shares the author's personal story - how he taught those subjects in his children's classrooms, but ends every chapter with the action items every parent can take at his own home.
The first chapter discusses the challenge of expressing ourselves clearly and understanding the other, even in the setting of communication between friends and family who wish to truly be understood. The chapter will discuss the methods to train ourselves and improve in this area.
The more we look to see the world through other people's eyes,
the safer we will be from people and content that might hurt us
The second chapter discusses the challenge of expressing ourselves clearly and understanding the other in written communication. It focuses on what is usually the
first online challenge for children - an online chat with their friends.
Chatting online with our friends is a prime example of how
written communication makes us less attentive
if we don't put in a conscious effort
The third chapter discusses meeting strange people and strange content online.
It focuses on understanding the dangers and complexities of a world where another identifies themselves using the "profile" entity.
It also discusses the affects of virality and anonymity as readers of content and as the people who might produce online content ourselves.
We'll want to empower our children as readers and viewers
to choose and select their actions and their content.
We'll want them to understand why they act.
The easier it is for strangers to gain our trust and attention,
the easier it for them to cause us to act without thinking.
The forth chapter uses the terms from previous chapters, to discuss how and in what conditions to trust strange content or a strange/new person.
The chapter will take inspiration from the way science sifts through opinions, conjectures and theories to find those most worthy to be the basis of scientific knowledge.
It's critical to look for self-criticism,
and a voice that speaks of both pros and cons,
before trusting a new person or strange content that
drives us to act.
The fifth chapter discusses dialogue - the way we can actively influence our means of understanding another.
We'll want the question "Why" to take center stage.
When we act, when we listen and communicate,
even we argue.
