Facts

Chatting with people on the internet and on a cell phone is okay, just make sure that your parents or caregiver say you can AND as long as you take care: ALWAYS remember STOP AND THINK. Here are some tips on staying safe while you surf the net:

If you’re posting information or photos on the internet or texting somebody :
STOP AND THINK
Who could end up seeing this?

Have you asked other’s permission to show it?

If you’re in an internet chatroom or chatting by text:
STOP AND THINK
Is the text or chat making you feel weird or creepy?

Is someone trying to trick you?

Could this hurt you or someone else?
If you’re being cyberbullied

Get the address of the webpage or the phone number that the bully is sending their messages from, and make sure you talk to a parent, caregiver or an adult that you trust.

If you do have a blog page, remember that you can make your page private and only invite your friends to have a look at it.


Some weird and wonderful facts about ‘blogging’

The internet started with the sharing of computers in the early 1960s at American universities. People would share the same computer for their computing tasks. The Internet also received help from Sputnik (the Russian satellite) after it was launched in 1957. President Eisenhower (a United States president in the 1960’s) formed ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) to advance computer networking and communications for the US Army, Air force and Navy.  This was really just a way for using computers to exchange messages and information.

As of December 30, 2007, 1.319 billion people use the Internet, according to Internet World Stats
The main language for communication on the Internet is English.
Emails were around in 1965 – 6 years before Constable Bryan was born!
The first text message was sent from one pager to another in 1989

In 2000, just 17 billion SMS (short message service) messages were sent; in 2001 the number was up to 250 billion, and 500 billion SMS messages in 2004.

Texting has even created a language called text speak (see if you can figure the ones out below)
LOL (laugh out loud)
:0) (smile)
B4N (bye for now)
Gl hf (good luck have fun)
TTFN (ta ta for now)
Or Bobby’s favourite L8R G8R (see you later alligator)

The first programmable computer was invented in 1936 by a Konrad Zuse he named the computer the z1

The first computer mouse was introduced in 1968 by Douglas Engelbart at the Fall Joint Computer Expo in San Francisco.

The biggest selling computer games of all time are the Super Mario Brothers who, over 25 years, have sold over 195 million games based on their adventures - not bad for two plumbers!