Effectiveness of educational guidelines about social media misuse and electronic extortion on knowledge, attitudes and digital skills of school age children

Electronic extortion is one of the most deadly crimes faces young children and associated with social media misuse. Parents and all society have the responsibility to protect children from digital crimes. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of educational guidelines about social media misuse and electronic extortion on knowledge, attitudes and digital skills of school age children. Subjects and Method: Design: A quasi-experimental research design was utilized . Subjects: A stratified simple random sampling of 200 students from three schools, Ali Mubarak Elementary School, Sabarbay Preparatory School and Elsadat Secondary School affiliated to Tanta City at Gharbeya Governorate. Three tools were used: Tool I : Students’ knowledge assessment sheet, Tool II : Students’ attitudes toward social media misuse and electronic extortion and Tool III: Students’ digital skills reported questionnaire . The results: 86.6% of children had low knowledge level, 48% had positive attitude towards social media misuse and 77% had unsatisfactory digital skills before educational guidelines while 93% of children had high knowledge level, the majority of them had positive attitude and satisfactory digital skills after guidelines with positive correlation between students’ knowledge, attitudes and digital skills The study concluded that the educational guidelines enhances students' knowledge, attitudes, and digital skills regarding social media misuse and electronic extortion. The study recommended that regular seminars should be held at schools to educate students the potential effects of social media and protection of electronic extortion.