Book review: Look Both Ways

Look Both Ways, by Linda Criddle, is an accessible and well-written guide for parents who want to protect their family online.

The book covers topics such as online bullying, sexual predators, mobile phone threats, spam, scams and online fraud. Once she has looked at the risks and explained the technology, the book changes into a how-to manual for parents. Some of the links and resources are US-centric (the author is American) but the internet is global and the challenges universal.

Grounded in research, which is properly sourced in the book.  If the information is alarming (e.g. “more than 90 percent of kids who meet an online predator in person end up being abused”) it is more so for being grounded in research.

It is not, however, dull. The use of short vignettes that tell the story of perpetrators and victims makes the subject matter vivid. They are anonymised but based on real cases.

There is a quick safety checklist over two pages at the beginning of the book. This is typical of the no-nonsense, down-to-business approach throughout the book. It is full of sensible advice.

By building her practical advice on solid research she avoids the shrillness and hysteria that often attends this subject, for example in British tabloid newspapers. She also avoids damning the internet out of hand.  She doesn’t tell you to shut down your blog or ban your kids from the internet; just how to protect them.

As well as being a detailed guide for concerned parents, Look Both Ways is also a useful overview of the internet child safety threat and the research that has been done on it. It may be a useful primer for carers, police and others who deal with this issue.

Disclosure: this book is published by Microsoft Press and Microsoft is a sponsor of Get Safe Online. The book was provided free of charge for review purposes.

Look Both Ways by Linda Criddle, Microsoft Press. 216 pages. ISBN 978-0-7956-2347.