Less Surfing, More Sharing (Like TV, Internet must be monitored and limited.)

The Annenberg Center for the Digital Future reported that 28 percent of Americans interviewed last year said they are spending less time with members of their households because of the Internet. That's nearly triple the 11 percent who said that in 2006. Michael Gilbert, a senior fellow at the Center, said "Most people think of the Internet and our digital future as boundless, and I do, too. But ultimately it leads to less-cohesive and less-communicative families."

The antidote? Put time limits and guidelines on web surfing at home for everyone. And a great way to do that? Have your family read and sign this Family Internet contract put together by All Pro Dads.


The parents in our family will always:
• Keep the computer in a common area of the house such as the family room or kitchen.
• Use filters and other parental control software to protect our children.
• Monitor the amount of time our children spend on the Internet.
• Monitor conversations our children have on the Internet and get to know their friends.
• Take the time to train and encourage our children to use the Internet wisely.
• Maintain access to our children’s profiles on social networking sites by requiring them to “friend” us.
• Share an email account with our children until they are old enough to be trusted with their own.
• Know our children’s e-mail addresses and passwords.
The kids in our family will never:
• Share personal information such as their name, address, phone number, school, teams, age, etc. with anyone online.
• Engage in any form of cyber-bullying; we will treat others online as we would like to be treated.
• Send, forward, or respond to mean or threatening messages.
• Meet anyone in person that we met online without our parents’ permission.
• Buy anything online without our parents’ permission.
• Download games, movies, music, or programs without our parents’ permission.
• Give our passwords to anyone but our parents.
• Join social networks such as MySpace and Facebook without our parents’ permission.
• Post or send pictures or videos online without our parents’ permission.
• Enter chat rooms without our parents’ permission.
The kids in our family will always:
• Tell our parents if anyone says or does anything online that makes us uncomfortable or upsets us.
• Give our parents permission to see what we do on the Internet and give them the passwords to all our accounts.
• Keep our parents as “friends” on all social network sites of which we are members.
• Tell our parents if we see anything on a website that makes us uncomfortable or is inappropriate.
Children:
I understand that access to the Internet is a privilege that I must earn by being responsible and trustworthy. I will follow this contract
whether I am at home or on a computer somewhere else.
Signed ________________________________________ Signed_________________________________________
Signed ________________________________________ Signed_________________________________________
Parents:
I understand that it is my responsibility to protect my children from danger on the Internet and to train them to use the Internet
wisely.
Signed ________________________________________ Signed_________________________________________