Speak Out!
Is the Internet too dangerous?
Mon, 05/14/2007 - 21:15 | Internet
According to an article in The Ledger, many American parents worry that their children’s Web pages on social-networking sites are an open invitation to predators. So, lawmakers are considering legislation:
Nearly every parent has nightmares that someone might visit those pages, easily discovering where the children live and what they like. After years of exponential growth of such Web sites and dozens of high-profile cases of criminal activity stemming from them, politicians in a half-dozen states are pushing legislation aimed at protecting children by requiring sites like MySpace.com and Facebook.com to verify the age of every user and require parental permission for those under 18.Should states pass laws to keep Web predators from young people? If so, how would they be enforced?
What I Know for Sure
Comments
In the last 10 years, the
In the last 10 years, the Internet has gone from a place of research to a place for the exchange of communication and eCommerce. To try to enforce legislation of this kind would be a waste of our taxpaying dollars.
If enforcement was actually feasible it would save many children from exposure to inappropriate materials, but the reality is the Internet provides a level of anonymity that feeds the passions of child offenders.
By micro-managing our children's online activities, we, the parents, hold the solution to this problem - not the judges...
- CC
I think that all predators
I think that all predators are pure garbage and, should be hog tied if we were able to catch up to all of them. But, the behavior some of our youth display nowadays is extremely shameful. I'm not saying that it's all their fault that predators are online doing the things they do, but they make it real easy for them to live out their sick, unhealthy, unnatural obsession with our youth. Because, if the sickos weren't being fed obscene conversation, pictures, video or, live webcam shows then there would be nothing for them to see. Then, they will have to get their jollies off someplace else.
Some of today's youth are extremely candid, provocative and so willing to explore avenues some grown-ups can't even begin to fathom. True, you can make it so that your children aren't able to access certain sites or chatrooms without your permission but what happens once they're in and you're gone? It seems as though the children become lost in a world of their own, and the childhood rules of don't talk to strangers go right out the window. Sometimes, there's the case whereas, the child doesn't get the attention at home that they so need or desire.
In some cases, parents seem to think the time they spend with their children is enough, but in reality it isn't. Life today is so fast paced, and people often have multiple things to do, but there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day. So, therefore the time that is given to their child may not be enough for him or her. Maybe, for instance, your child had a bad day, need some advice or just want to tell you what a good day they had, but you don't have time to sit down and listen. That can probably make them feel unloved, lonely, or make them feel like what they do just isn't that important.
Then, right away they just go on the computer and, into the chatroom, because they know there will always be someone there who will listen to them. So, maybe they tell the person they're chatting with about their day whether good or bad. The predator immediately feeds off of what the child is saying and tells them exactly what they want to hear. Maybe, the child wanted to tell their parent about the game they won at school that day, but the parent didn't have time to listen. So, that person soaks up all the enthusiasm from the child and, play along asking, "So, what team did you beat?" The child tells them who, then where, and so on.
All of a sudden, he has enough information to find out where the child is. Then, maybe he suggests that they celebrate. Of course, all the while the child is under the impression that another child is on the other end of that conversation, or maybe they know it's a grown-up and feels that they are more in tuned or cares more for them than their parent/parents. So, they agree to meet and the rest is history. But, though that's not always the case sometimes it is, and parents need to spend more time with their children showing interest in the little things that interest them.
For those who want to silence
For those who want to silence those who are finding a place to be heard yes!!! if that is what you mean.
Tavis, We keep trying to
Tavis,
We keep trying to control technology with laws, and it will never work. You can't legislate this type of behavior. There will always be a way for someone to "spoof" the system. There will always be an ethics "gap" in technology. We can shorten the gap, but we will never close it completely. We need to learn the parallels that exist in the virtual world and the real world. How we behave in the real world carries over to the virtual. The morals of "Don't talk to strangers" and "Don't take candy from strangers" also apply online. We no longer know our neighbors up the street anymore, nor do we care, and the irony is that we marvel at being able to connect globally, but we are becoming increasingly disconnected, locally. Like the generation before us, we have turned our kids over to the technology. It used to be television, now its computer devices and the internet. Not to sound crass, but predators are doing what predators do, look for prey.
We have to teach our kids not to be the prey, online, just as we teach them this in the real world, or do we, anymore?
Kids actually perceive the virtual world as "safer" than the real one, because we are no longer teaching them how do deal with their insecurities and esteem problems in this realm. We just buy them more "stuff" to fill their time and their voids and send them to their rooms. Because its technology, we have convinced ourselves that they are becoming better citizens with 21st Century Skills. Laws can actually make matters worse because no one can truly predict what will happen as a result of the law. We know what we "want" to happen, but we rarely get just that.
I am not against the net, social networks or anything of that nature, but I am for more teaching on the proper use of technology. We need to teach our kids how they fit into society as members and encourage them to edify the community at large with their gifts of technology adoption and hyper literacy and teach them the difference between enjoyment and fun.
Tavis It’s real easy for
Tavis
It’s real easy for predators to get to our kids from the Internet. I'm not defending the sick predators out there-but we have kids on the internet that will enter these chat rooms and the first thing that they say "HEY I HAVE A WEB CAM YOU CAN SEE ME NAKED! These are some of the things that- I'm sure predators are looking at. This is how the kids are behaving in the chat room. They say things that draw these predators to the chat room for solicitation! I have been in some of these chat rooms and the conversation that goes on is shocking.... I have been approached and believe me the words from these kids are not innocent. I ask them how old are you and the response is alarming...
Parents should be afraid for their kids. There should be equal concerns about the way these kids project themselves. Predators are drawn to these scenes like a magnet-because the kid’s conversations are wide open for anything goes... Parents need to educate their kids on how to use the internet. Legislation should be taken place to protect our kids-but go on to some of these chat rooms and listen to how these kids come across to strangers.....You will hear girls saying things like “you want to see my breast?” You want to have orgies? And the list goes on... Parents check your kids-monitor how much time they spend on the internet and with whom are that chatting with? If the parents could access the dialogue these kids are holding I’m absolutely sure they would be furious. If the state passes a law for predators; there would be no way to enforce a wide open market such as the internet. Who would monitor these websites?
We can go on and on with this conversation but there is a bigger problem with our kids behavior and trust me I know many parents would like to believe that it’s just the predators that are at fault and not their kids. In some cases parents are right but in an alarming number- our kids are at fault. The internet is places where our kids go because there are no restrictions in conversation and they can say and do like they want to. Again parents need to be held responsible for the at home usage of the internet-put a code on your computer that would prohibit your child from being on the internet in your absent. Don’t just assume that it’s everyone else responsibility but yours …..