Translator: Šarūnė Mat
Life involves making choices, making choices at every moment and every day.
We chose what time we want to wake up in the morning,
we chose if we hit the snooze bar to get a few extra minutes of sleep,
we chose whether we hit the snooze bar three, four, or five times
to get some more sleep.
We chose to wash our face or to brush our teeth first.
We chose what shirt to wear. We chose what pants or skirt to match.
We chose the underwear we are going to wear that day, we chose our socks.
They don't even have to match.
In free societies we chose whom we date.
We chose whom we marry.
And we make the choice to have a child.
With social media we chose what we post, we chose what we share,
we chose what we comment on
At every moment of every day.
I know you have seen this picture, the proud, soon-to-be mom,
holding up her positive pregnancy test or holding up a sign with a date
when she and her significant other are expecting.
And from that moment on,
our children in today's society are being socialized online
before they actually enter the physical world.
So we see the progression of the baby bump photos,
the pictures of preparing the nursery for the arrival of the newborn.
Until one day we see the post that we have all been waiting for.
We see post from the delivery room.
Sometimes, we see a cute cuddly baby, and sometimes we see a screaming,
straight from the womb, still attached newborn.
I've seen it. I know you've seen it.
And we are sharing such personal information
full name, time of birth, weight, length.
Every first of this child's life in today's society will be documented.
Forever, on social media.
The first diaper change, the first bottle,
the first snuggle with grandma or grandpa, the first hug with the big sister
who's so proud that she is wearing a shirt that says "big sister."
Every first is documented forever online.
And then the first with the young toddler tapping on a device.
Swiping their finger on a device.
We have gotten to the point where we are sharing
party training pictures of our children
while the children are holding smartphones and tablets
to help them pass the time while they are learning to pee or poop.
As the child grows up, we get to see pictures posted by parents,
proud parents of their children on play dates.
And the children are each holding their device in their face.
All but ignoring the other children that are near them.
They are in the same room, they are often sitting on the same couch,
but they are not actually interacting.
And then if you go to a restaurant today
more often than not you will see a family sitting there.
All staring into their favorite device screens.
All but ignoring
their most precious loved ones an arm's length away.
When we hand our young children
a smartphone or a tablet to keep them entertained,
we are missing something.
We are missing something as a society.
We are missing the prime opportunity to teach our children cyberethics.
We are missing the opportunity to ingrain cyberethics
into their developing minds, the minds of the next generation.
What if we teach children starting at three years old
about bullying, about privacy,
about screen time balance, about empathy and other cyberethics topics?
It is all too often in the media, that we see, hear or read terrible stories
of something that has happened to a child that is related to the technology.
So perhaps, if we start teaching children at three years old about cyberethics,
we will have children that know how to make smart decisions
about sharing too much personal information,
about how to deal with the receipt of a bully message.
Perhaps, we would live in a world with reduced bully suicides,
with a reduction in missing kids, and with a reduction in revenge porn.
So how do we teach children starting as young as three years old
about cyberethics?
Well, you start at the beginning.
I would like to introduce you to the Savvy Cyber Kids.
This is Tony and Ema.
Tony and Ema are brother and sister
and Tony and Ema go on great adventures together,
that resonate with our children.
So how do you start teaching the cyberethics concepts?
Well, you have to start at the beginning with the technology itself.
You have to teach children about what technology is
and the amazing things that you can do with technology.
Play games, listen to music, create music,
read, develop, communicate with others.
On one of their amazing adventures,
Ema and Tony encounter an online stranger.
So what do they do? They create superhero identities of course.
Ema creates Cyber Princess, and Tony creates Cyber Thunder.
So when anyone ever asks them online: "What is your name? Where do you live?
What school do you go to? Are you a boy? Are you a girl?
What is your favorite sport?"
The only answer is their superhero identity.
Cyber Thunder or Cyber Princess.
In another adventure, Cyber Thunder and Cyber princess are playing an online game,
and they encounter a cyber bully.
With the help of their mom, they learn how to deal with bullies online
and bullies in the physical world.
It is important that we teach our children
that not everyone they meet in life will be nice.
It is important that we let our children know
how much we value them and love them.
It is important that we teach our children
to ignore mean talk and mean writing directed towards them.
We need to build confidence in our children.
We need to help them follow their passions.
Throughout history there is a long list of the most famous people in the world
who have come out and admitted that they were bullied in their youth
and many bullied into adulthood.
But what differentiates these successful people
from the impact of bullying?
They had a strong support group, they followed their passion.
Help your children find their passion, and follow their passion.
And not everyone will agree with the passion
and the path your child may be taking.
It may be out of these so called norms for today's society,
but that's perfect for your child.
And when your child is bullied online, tell him to ignore it.
If the capability exists in an app or a game, or something else they are doing,
have them block the offending individual.
Make sure your child knows who their trusted adults are in life
so that if they ever see or hear something that they don't understand,
that scares them, makes them feel funny they know exactly
who to come to talk about it.
So you as a parent, you as a teacher, grandparents, make sure your children know
that they can come to you whenever they need to talk
or don't understand something.
We need to teach our children to dream,
we need to help our children put down technology,
we need to take our children outdoors,
we need to give children an adventure in their own backyards.
No matter where you live in the world, you can take your child outside,
away from technology, and let them experience dreaming.
Let them sit, let them stare in the sky, let them think about anything,
let them think about nothing, because that's where the creativity comes in.
So create these opportunities to allow your children to dream.
Your children are sponges.
They observe everything you do and everything you say.
So if you are on your device all the time, at the dinner table,
when they are talking to you, guess what they are going to grow up into?
Technology should never go to bed with the children at night.
Ever.
Create a place in your home where all technology goes to bed,
where all the devices get plugged in to recharge.
Just as we need a good night sleep to recharge ourselves,
so does the technology.
Why is this so important?
When I was young, bullying was localized.
It happened at school, it happened on the playground,
it happened on the street corner, but when I got home, it was a safe haven,
the bullying stopped.
Today, with technology, we have the ability
and the capability to be a target of bullies 24 hours a day.
Every single day.
So you need to help take technology away from your children at night,
this gives their minds a chance to reset,
to stop harping on all the negativity that may be coming their way.
It's a good practice to start in your home as early as possible.
So you as a parent have a choice to make.
I would like to suggest
that at least once a day you put down your technology.
You look your child in the eye, you tell them you love them,
you give them a big hug because no technology can do that.
Chose to be present for your children and your children will be present for you.
Thank you.
(Applause)