High Functioning Autism and Internet Dangers, Part 4: Keeping Your Child Safe

In this episode, the 4th in the High Functioning Autism and Internet Dangers series, the discussion turns to how to keep your child safe.

But not only safe but knowing how to become a digital citizen with the rights and responsibilities that go with it.

Online activities can be beneficial for this population, but some commonsense limits can greatly increase the chances of its appropriate use. 

The program looks at what the term digital citizenship means and what goes into efforts to spread the idea.

Teens with high functioning autism add their ideas and concerns about internet usage.  It may be somewhat surprising but most teens want to know more about internet safety, but theirs  and their parents are not necessarily the same.

Anderson, Amelia and Abigail Phillips. “Getting Basic Information Isn’t as Helpful as the Nuanced Advice We Can Give Each Other”: Teens with Autism on Digital Citizenship Education. Journal of Research on Libraries & Young Adults Vol. 10 No. 3 (2019).

Regarding digital citizenship: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37615409/

Thanks to soundimage.org for the free access to the AI generated music used in this podcast (https://soundimage.org/) 

Transcript

Is the Internet safe for Autistic Youth?

 Episode Four

Keeping Your Child Safe

 Today I’d like to talk about how to keep children and youth with autism from experiencing or being vulnerable to what we have discussed in the past 3 episodes of this series.

 For this episode I will be using two studies that look at online safety issues.

 The first study was titled, Developing Guidelines and Strategies for Caregivers and Clinicians to Support Healthy Use of Screens. (1)      

 A group of 20 clinicians specializing in the area of autism and 10 parents of children or youth with high functioning autism worked through a series of questionnaires.  I won’t get into the technical details, but researchers ran the results through a series of processes that resulted in a scientifically validated qualitative result.

 “The authors start the study’s report by saying, “Over the past few years, screen-based usage among children and youth has increased significantly, particularly among those with autism. Yet current screen time guidelines do not address the specific needs of autistic children and youth. 

 ‘Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop specific and clear guidelines and strategies that caregivers and expert clinicians agree upon to support the digital citizenship of children with autism.”

 The final guidelines included six sections: (1) general principles, (2) considerations for timing and content of leisure screen time, (3) strategies for caregivers and clinicians to monitor and regulate screen time, (4) behaviors to monitor for screen time overuse, (5) additional guidelines for clinicians, and (6) (resources to train youth in the modern-day skills) necessary for this population to learn, which is “digital citizenship.” 

 This term refers to the ethical, safe, and responsible use of technology with capabilities related to Internet safety, online etiquette, the use of media, digital footprints, and rights and property (Lauricella et al., 2020).

 The authors write, “The relationship between problematic screen time and autism could stem from autistic childrens’ increased need for solitary activities and sensory stimulation. The use of screen-based technologies may be able to fulfill both of these needs, so it appears that difficulties in impulse control and response inhibition may contribute to excessive use of screen time in children and youth with autism. 

 ‘There is (in addition) a substantial lack of knowledge regarding the strategies and guidelines that can limit risk factors while using technology that is beneficial, such as the use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).  

 Now, using the six guidelines that make up digital citizenship we’ll look at a study that explores teens attitudes about the concept. 

 The study I used is titled, “Getting Basic Information Isn’t as Helpful as the Nuanced Advice We Can Give Each Other: Teens with Autism on Digital Citizenship Education” (2)

 In this exploratory study, the researchers examined the intersection of teens with autism as public library users, their perceptions of and experiences with cyberbullying and other online damaging behaviors, and the potential role of public librarians in providing relevant digital citizenship programming

 The authors write, “Results from this study indicate that teens on the autism spectrum live rich digital lives and have experience with both sides of cyberbullying, or digital drama. This study suggests that teens are willing to answer questions about their digital lives and demonstrate a desire to learn more about best practices in navigating the online environment, especially when learning alongside peers.” 

 Practical implications based on inclusion are given for public librarians seeking to implement digital citizenship education for the communities they serve.

 Just a note, I won’t be reporting on the results having to do with how to improve library online education, we’ll concentrate on what the teens said about their attitudes generally. 

 This project addresses the following research question. What perspectives do teens with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) have regarding digital citizenship?

 Back to the authors, “Like their neurotypical peers… teens on the autism spectrum have the potential for engaging in, and being subjected to, cyberbullying.

 ‘Cyberbullying has been defined “as any behavior performed through electronic or digital media by individuals or groups that repeatedly communicates hostile or aggressive messages intended to inflict harm or discomfort on others. 

 ‘Like traditional bullying victims, cyberbullied youth have long-lasting mental and emotional, aftereffects such as being prone to self-harm, low self-esteem, and depression into adulthood. 

 ‘Teens themselves do not typically refer to what adults would label “cyberbullying” as cyberbullying.  To teens, cyberbullying behaviors are “drama,” everyday occurrences, and accepted as just a norm among teens. 

 ‘Therein lies the challenge of fully understanding how pervasive cyberbullying truly is among teens.  It is these very differences that might lead to misunderstanding both of and by their peers, putting teens with ASD at increased risk for so-called digital drama. 

‘Youth on the spectrum are not only more likely to be bullied, but they also, whether knowingly or not, participate in bullying others. 

 ‘Parents reported that at school, their children “with ASD usually do not have the social awareness to stay quiet or even lie when called for in social situations.  Unfortunately, their complete honesty was viewed as bullying in some cases”.

 ‘Additionally, being bullied can lead to youth with ASD demonstrating bullying behavior, a phenomenon known as the “bully-victim”.   These bully-victims are typically less passive and “try to fight back in a way that only makes the situation worse.

 ‘When asked, “What is especially tricky about managing a situation of cyberbullying?” the idea of anonymity arose in many answers: “no way of really knowing the person doing it”; “we don’t know who did the bad thing”; “It is difficult to find a real person.”

 ‘Additionally, teens surveyed reported that cyberbullying spreads quickly: Teens said, “No one can stop it”, and “it’s hard to stop cyberbullying because lots of people see the messages on social media and it spreads like a virus”, and finally, one said “it’s tricky unless you have proof of everything”. 

The authors move on to our participants home structure around online activity.

 “The majority of participants in this study reported that they have rules in their house about technology. 

 ‘Though all of these rules were different based on the participant, each of the reasons given for why they were helpful all related to self-moderation and staying grounded in reality: spiraling and losing track of time.  One said, “I set a timer for an hour which is super useful.  Another,  “If I’m using it past midnight I’m obviously not sleeping” and, they keep us in reality.”

 “Do teens want their loved ones to unplug? Mostly, yes. One would like a sister to reduce the time she spends on Snapchat because “she’s on it constantly.” A different teen felt that (their) mom was ‘on the phone too much’; another participant thought his or her parents need to unplug because ‘there are times they just make the situation worse’.

 ‘The teens commented on which worries adults have about how teens use technology were legitimate and which were not. The teens responding to this question replied that legitimate concerns were “bullying, giving out personal information, becoming addicted to gaming” and “Legit: predators, disconnection from real world, ease of information for things like…how to make a bomb, cyber bullying?” 

 ‘One teen said that concerns depended on “the teens using it,” and another stated that legitimate concerns focused on health issues: “a lot of people do use technology as a way to avoid having to spend any time inactive, which can’t be healthy.” 

 ‘Teens in this study thought that adults should not be concerned about teens making friends online: “teens have internet friends that aren’t pedophiles”.  

 Another topic was the idea of using technology to think for them. One said, “That’s wrong but having something that can do the meaningless parts of problem solving is incredibly useful and there’s no reason not to have it.”

 “The majority of teens had conversations at school, whether through conversations with friends or through formal instruction, about “managing tech distractions,” “using tech for homework,” and “behaving appropriately online.” 

 Digital Citizenship Education in General

‘Do teens talk about digital citizenship at home? When asked, “Which topics have you had conversations about at home?” the most common response  was “Having a balance of online/offline activities,”: “managing tech distractions,” “sharing pictures of me,” “using tech for homework.” 

 ‘Some had conversations on “shopping and buying things online”; and a few had conversations about “tagging or uploading pictures of other people” and “behaving appropriately online.” 

 ‘Only 10% had discussions about “downloading movies/music legally,” and none had conversations about “understanding creative credit/copyright.”

 ‘None of the teens wanted more information about “choosing passwords,” “creating usernames,” or “talking with strangers.”

 Obviously, this podcast and the others in this series barely scratched the surface of issues that come up online, but I hope the discussion of it will help you become more involved in what your child does while on the internet.

(1) Autism. 2023 Aug 24;28(4):1010–1028. doi: 10.1177/13623613231192870 Digital citizenship of children and youth with autism: Developing guidelines and strategies for caregivers and clinicians to support healthy use of screens Yael Mayer, Mor Cohen-Eilig, Janice Chan, Natasha Kuzyk , Armansa Glodjo, Tal Jarus Author information Article notes Copyright and License information PMCID: PMC10981179 PMID: 37615409

 (2) Anderson, Amelia and Abigail Phillips. “Getting Basic Information Isn’t as Helpful as the Nuanced Advice We Can Give Each Other”: Teens with Autism on Digital Citizenship Education. Journal of Research on Libraries &Young Adults Vol. 10 No. 3 (2019). n. page. Web. <Date accessed, Amelia Anderson, Library and Information Studies Program, Old Dominion University Abigail Phillips, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee