This past Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending a Family Online Safety Institute roundtable discussion on the issues families are facing with online safety. Hosted at the Googleplex, our morning started with a screening of "Growing Up Online", the PBS documentary that takes a look at some of the real issues kids are facing on the Internet from cyberbullying to online predators. Kids these days seem overly willing to post their personal information and pictures on the Internet and don't realize that it may haunt them down the road.

This was the third time I have seen the documentary and every time I learn something new.  It truly is an incredible video that every family should sit down and watch together. The producer, Rachel Dretzin, was there to answer questions about the documentary and explain to the crowd why she was inspired to make this film. She shared some of the incredible feedback she has received over the past couple of months from families across the country.

Following the screening, Stephen Balkam, the CEO of FOSI, along with Anne Collier, (author of "MySpace Unraveled") led a roundtable discussion about what the current problems and challenges we are facing with our kids who have grown up online - and how do we go about educating parents on how to respond to this problem.

Our very busy day was a fascinating experience and turned out to be one of the most candid, open discussions I've heard on how to keep kids safe online. We need to educate parents about what their kids are doing online. I think many parents do not know what their kids are up to on their computers and even if parents do have an idea - they might not know how to respond to it. Our discussion was a great way to hear the ideas from leaders in the field and to start working together to give parents the education they need.  I plan to keep this discussion going to help address online safety and privacy concerns!