You teach your child the difference between right and wrong, insisting they use proper etiquette and reminding them to look both ways before crossing the street. But in this high-tech age, children and teens need more. Many are taking part in risky online behavior; making detrimental decisions that leave them vulnerable to heinous crimes of the cyber world.

Prior to taking part in their program, i-SAFE America surveyed students across the country about their behavior online. The statistics are shocking and reveal an immediate need for Internet safety education.

Basic Online Behavior

• Over 70% of students go online at least once per week.*
• Nearly 85% spend at least one hour on the Internet on a weekly basis.*
• 33% use e-mail, instant messages and chat rooms as the main ways they keep in contact with their friends.*
• 54% of students say that, other than the i-SAFE lessons, they have taken no other computer classes related to the Internet.***

Risky Online Behavior

• 53% like being alone when “surfing” the Internet.*
• 12% have unsupervised access to the Internet at school.**
• 10% chat, e-mail or Instant Message (IM) while at school.**
• 39% have given out personal information (name, e-mail address, age, gender) online (when entering a contest, playing online games or signing up for websites).*
• 31% have chatted or used IM with someone on the Internet that they have not met “face to face”.*
• 12% have met a new person from the Internet “face to face.”*
• 13% are willing to meet “face to face” with someone new they meet on the Internet.*
• 8% say that, while on the Internet, someone has asked them to keep their friendship a secret.*
• 53% have seen something on the Internet that shouldn’t be on the Internet.**
• 64% know of or have heard about other students who have done something on the Internet that shouldn’t be done.*

* Combined 2003/2004 and 2004/2005 i-SAFE survey of 55,000 students

** 2004-05 i-SAFE survey of 36,000 students

*** 2003-04 i-SAFE survey of 19,000 students