Kids learn how to stay safe on the Internet | Crime
The average school age child now spends practically every waking minute — except for their time in school — using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device, according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Those ages 8 to 18 spend more than seven and a half hours a day with such devices, compared with less than six and a half hours five years ago, when the study was last conducted. And that does not count the hour and a half that youths spend texting, or the half-hour they talk on their cell phones.
And because so many of them are multitasking — say, surfing the Internet while listening to music —they pack on average nearly 11 hours of media content into that seven and a half hours.
The fifth graders at Pasadena Fundamental School in the west end of St. Petersburg, most of whom are about 11 years old, recently got some straight talk about how to stay safe as they use the internet from Officer Chip Wells of the St. Petersburg Police Department.
The kids clamored for more of the real life scary stories that Officer Wells delivered and begged him for more. Just as kids seem to love horror movies, they wanted more of the scary tales, but Officer Wells stories were true and scarier than any horror movie.
If you would like Officer Wells to present the Stay Safe on the Internet program to students at your school, contact him at: 727-893-4993, St. Petersburg Police Department, 1300 First Avenue North, St. Petersburg, FL.