Online privacy taught to teens at Calgary conference
A group of junior high school students in Calgary got a lesson in online privacy this week from some older peers.
With today’s children spending hours online every day, the goal is to teach them good habits at a young age.
The sessions were part of the National Privacy and Data Congress taking place this week in Calgary at the Carriage House Inn.
Erinne Paisley, a Grade 12 student who helped teach the younger kids, says there’s a definite lack of awareness.
“But it's not that they don't value it, or care about it, it's just that here's not a lot of education in place about it.”
Privacy and Access Council of Canada president Sharon Polsky said it’s important to include young people in the discussion about privacy.
Warning about what to post
“We said you know what, let’s have the experts — the real experts — explain it to the adults,” she said. “A lot of kids know a whole lot more about it than their adult parents, their grandparents. The kids today, they have never known an existence without digital devices.”
Paisley said she tells the younger children they need to be cautious about what they post online.
“I do this really easily by just, you know, by just thinking if something is going to hire me, or someone at a university saw this, would I be OK with that? If I'm not then I'm not going to post it,” she said.
For Grade 7 student Ella Starling, it’s serious business.
“When I was younger I always wanted to be a pop star but now I'm kinda worried about it because, like, you basically have no privacy,” she said.
Polsky praised the Calgary Board of Education for making an effort to teach students about privacy issues.
“But it’s not consistent across the province and it’s certainly not consistent throughout the country,” she said.
The Privacy and Access Council of Canada is working with other groups to get digital literacy and privacy issues included on school curricula across the country, Polsky said.
