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1/12/2004
Vickee and Ravinder from the WISE KIDS Teen Panel interview author, consultant, youth
leader and IT specialist,
Dan
Appleman
on his new book,
Always use Protection: A Teen's
Guide to Safe Computing.
A highly recommended book for teens of all ages!
1) What inspired you to write the book?
It started when my nephew got hit by a virus. His computer
started acting up
(Explorer kept crashing) and I told him to scan his system. He
told me he
didn't have a virus scanner, and didn't need one because he was
smart enough
to know not to download files or open attachments. It turned out
his machine
was infected, and that led me to realize that there was a real
problem - if
a computer savvy kid like him could get hit, then the average
teen must be
having serious problems indeed.
2) If you could give one piece of advice to a teenager
regarding using the
Internet safely, what would it be?
Read this book? :-) Seriously, take a bit of time and learn
about computer
security. It's like learning to cross the street safely, or
learning to
drive. Even if you hate learning stuff (and most teens I know
don't feel
that way), it's totally worth the effort.
3) We found the book very funny. Do you think that by
advising young people to use the Internet safely in a humorous
way, they are more likely to listen
to the advice?
I think that when advising ANY people to do anything, humour
is much more
likely to gain some attention. Of course, funny or not, whether
they
actually listen and follow the advice is another matter
entirely. Teens and
adults aren't so different on that score.
4) What is the best anti-virus software on the market at the
moment?
I couldn't say. How do you compare software that changes
almost daily (every
time it's updated?). But that's ok - you don't need the "best" -
you just
need good. Norton, MacAfee, Grisoft are all good.
5) What are the three main problems/challenges that the
Internet present?
In general, or from a security perspective?
From a security perspective, right now I'd say Privacy is #1
(identity
theft, scams, etc.). Then I'd tie destructive viruses and online
predators
as #2 & #3. The viruses because they are so common. The
predators because
while relatively uncommon, when problems happen they are
serious.
6) What is the one piece of advice you would give to parents
on how to
prevent their children from being exposed to obscenities on the
Internet?
Turn off the Internet and don't let your kids out of the
house:-) Ok, for real - the key question is: what is your
standard of prevention? If you want to absolutely prevent
obscenities and pornography, you pretty
much have to block all Internet use.
If you want to prevent almost all obscenities and pornography -
for younger
kids, an Internet filter is a great tool.
If you have a teen who is choosing to visit unmoderated or adult
chat rooms,
or actively seeking porn, all bets are off - you can't prevent
it unless you
shut of the Internet and lock them permanently in their room.
It's probably
been that way since teenage cave dwellers scratched primitive
porn on the
walls of caves.
7) Would you consider writing a sequel to the book and if so,
how would it
differ from the first?
I've been thinking of doing something even more basic for
younger kids, but
I'm quite happy with the level and scope of this book for teens.
8) Many children are much more computer literate than their
parents and can modify settings on a computer to hide activity.
With this in mind, how would
you recommend parents retain control over their
activities/computer?
For younger kids, the Internet filter programs are
sophisticated enough to
block all but the most precocious child. But again, with teens -
it's a
tough question. I mean, the question of parents "controlling"
teens is a big
one - with the Internet being only a very small part of it.
Perhaps that's
the answer though. Don't look at the Internet as something
special. Parents
are dealing with tough issues like drugs, sex, education - the
Internet is
just another of these issues, and probably less important than
most. Personally, I feel that if you've raised a teen with
respect and values,
while they may make mistakes and misjudgements along the way
(don't we all),
in the long run they'll live up to your highest expectations.
You won't need
to control their computer activity because they'll have the
skills to
control their own activity. Chances are parents who have serious
problems
with their teen's computer activity probably have much more
serious problems
than that as well.
Once again, on behalf of the teen panel here at WISE KIDS we
would like to
congratulate you on your brilliant book, and thank you for
taking your
valuable time to answer our questions.
Thank you for your great
questions.
All my best
Dan
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