Internet Safety
For most of us, the internet is part of our daily lives. It’s a tool we use to reduce isolation, forge social connections, purchase goods and services, and even promote ourselves or our work.
Do you remember how you learned to use the internet? Did you learn at home? Did you learn out of necessity at work or at school? Did someone show you the basics or did you just figure it out on your own? As a relatively new technology, some of us learned how to use it as adults while others grew up with it as part of our childhood.
I was an adult when the internet first came into being and in the beginning it was hard to even define what it was! Back then, it was known as the World Wide Web, or the Information Superhighway.
How did you learn about cybersecurity? Did your parents and other caregivers promote safe and responsible internet use? Did you learn about it at work or school? Since cybersecurity is all about protecting yourself and your information while you use the internet, you probably learned about it organically, over time.
What about the people you support? Do they know how to use the internet? Do they know about cybersecurity?
Too often people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are left out of discussions about internet use that many of us had at an early age…what to share and what not to, people aren’t always who they appear to be online, how to balance screen time, and many other important lessons we’ve learned. In an effort to protect people, there’s a tendency to avoid the risk all together by making assumptions, like “She doesn’t need to know about all that”; or “They’re not even interested in technology”; or “He wouldn’t understand it anyway.” As a result, people with IDD are often shielded from information that could later help them to become safe, responsible internet users. In fact, this practice can be detrimental if someone you support does get access to the internet and doesn’t have the skills to use it safely and responsibly.
For example, Daniel is a 27-year-old man with mild intellectual disability. He has never had or used a computer or even a smart TV. He doesn’t have a cell phone or tablet. There is a landline phone in his home. Daniel wants a girlfriend. He’s so focused on that one goal that he asks every woman he meets to be his girlfriend.
Three days a week, he works at a local grocery store stocking shelves and bagging groceries. He likes helping customers. He’s been working there for four years.
One day at work, a well-meaning co-worker tells him she got a new laptop, and she gives her old one to Daniel. She helps him set it up and shows him the basics – how to turn it on, how to sign in, how to get on the internet, how to Google something, etc.
Two weeks later, Daniel gets another co-worker to help him set up a profile on an online dating website so he can get a girlfriend. Within a few days, Daniel is matched with someone and spends every available hour chatting with his new girlfriend on Facebook. After a couple months, his girlfriend says she wants to come and visit him for the holidays, but she doesn’t have any money for a plane ticket. Daniel has a credit card to use for emergencies only and, deciding this was indeed an emergency, he sends her his credit card information to buy a plane ticket. He never hears from her again, and there are several large charges on his credit card bill…
This scenario is fictional, but you may have experienced similar circumstances with someone you support.
When we fail to help people learn how to use the internet safely and responsibly, like Daniel, they can be easily victimized. When we assume they’re not interested or can’t learn it, we’re also assuming they’re never going to be exposed to it. If you support a person who goes to work or day program or is otherwise not with you all day, every day, that’s a pretty big assumption.
It’s not hard to imagine that trouble ensued when Daniel got a laptop because he never learned about the risks. We wouldn’t give someone the keys to a sports car without making sure they knew how to drive and understood the rules of the road. Although it can be used for fun, the internet is not a toy. It has more power than a sports car and can be just as dangerous for someone who doesn’t know how to navigate it.
When used responsibly and safely, the internet can be as valuable a tool for a person with IDD as it is for a person without. Internet access is freedom. For a person with IDD, this can mean:
- freedom from isolation
- freedom from immediate identification as a person with a disability
- freedom from constraints of daily life (strict schedule, lack of privacy/intrusive housemates, etc.)
- freedom to create your own persona
- freedom to explore the world, areas of individual interest, and relationships with people they might not otherwise have opportunity to meet
We can help ensure the people we support can enjoy those freedoms and are prepared for any of the dangers associated with its use, by taking the time to help them learn about it. It’s better to prepare someone by helping them learn to use it responsibly and safely than it is to assume they’re not interested and never will be.
Tips for Teaching People with IDD about the Internet and Online Safety
Learning about the internet isn’t easy. Remember how confusing it all was when you were first learning? I do. Let’s be honest, the internet is a monster topic and, for most of us, it can’t be learned in one class or even a once-a-week class. Because it’s always evolving, it’s more of a continuous learning process. Here are some tips for teaching the people you support how to use the internet safely and responsibly.
- Start slowly and don’t move forward until the person can demonstrate that they understand what they learned. Depending on the concept a person is learning, this can take days, weeks, or months. Introduce new topics as gradually as needed for that person.
- Consider using the internet together until the person you support is comfortable and has a solid grasp on appropriate content and communication.
- Be concrete and use plain language to explain. The correct terminology for everything isn’t as important as understanding what it does or how to use it properly.
- Set clear expectations about internet use – what can be posted publicly, friend requests, and time spent online.
- Talk often about unsafe information to share online, including their real name, school or work, phone number, address, email address, financial or credit card information, and a picture or other identifying information. Make a “Do Not Share” list and post it somewhere as a reminder.
- Teach responsible online citizenship and help people you support to recognize and avoid malicious online behavior. Talk about appropriate and inappropriate interactions and teach ways they can escape and report cyber-bullying.
- Reinforce internet safety skills every time someone uses the Internet until it’s a habit.
- Talk openly and honestly about scams and how to detect them.
- Be patient. How many times have you asked a friend or co-worker how to do something until it stuck?
The internet is an amazing tool, but safe internet use takes practice. And, it’s important to get the person’s whole team involved. Helping someone learn about something as enormous as the internet shouldn’t be just one person’s responsibility. Getting everyone in the person’s life involved makes it possible for learning to be encouraged and reinforced when opportunity arises.
