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Internet Not Really Dangerous For Kids After All
Thomas M Hughes writes "We're all familiar with the claim that it's horribly dangerous to allow our children on to the Internet. It's long been believed that the moment a child logs on to the Internet, he will experience a flood of inappropriate sexual advances. Turns out this isn't an accurate representation of reality at all. A high-profile task force representing 49 state attorneys general was organized to find a solution to the problem of online sexual solicitation. But instead the panel has issued a report (due to be released tomorrow) claiming that 'Social networks are very much like real-world communities that are comprised mostly of good people who are there for the right reasons.' The report concluded that 'the problem of child-on-child bullying, both online and offline, poses a far more serious challenge than the sexual solicitation of minors by adults.' Turns out the danger to our children was all just media hype and parental anxiety." Those who have aggressively pushed the issue of the dangerous Internet, such as Connecticut's attorney general Richard Blumenthal, are less than happy with the report.
But.. who are we going to have to think of now?
You just got troll'd!
they will never know, given that this study is online.
Those who have aggressively pushed the issue of the dangerous Internet, such as Connecticut's attorney general Richard Blumenthal, are less than happy with the report.
Fuck 'em.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
It should fine, as long as the child is not using a windows machine full of adware that pops up each minute trying to sell him viagra or one night stand services
just wonder why there are so many anonymous cowards in this world....
This just in.. It is in fact a child's parents who are most likely to abduct them! Best throw the kids out on the street for their own safety.
Next they'll be saying that internet users who are online every day actually know something about the online community.
Internet is still a dangerous place for kids, it's just not as dangerous as what others might have put it.
I certainly don't want my kids to use this report to tell me it's more dangerous for them to play in the playground across the road than letting them surf net all day.
The report says child-on-child bullying is more serious a problem to deal with, and I'm sure if they could solve this problem for kids, they would have solved the sexual solicitation problem as well.
Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
What's next? Next thing you know they'll find out it's actually pretty hard to come by child porn, that it's not that easy to build a bomb off Internet instructions or that a "skilled hacker" cannot just infiltrate anything and do anything by typing onto his keyboard for 20 seconds.
Please, don't take our societal innocence away by destroying our misconceptions and delusions about the Internet.
You just got troll'd!
machine full of adware that pops up each minute trying to sell him viagra or one night stand services
But... But... I thought that WAS Windows?! ;)
A Man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties -- Albert Einstein
A few words:
tubgirl
lemonparty
meatspin
goatse
mr. hands
2girls1cup
Do you know how easy it is to stumble across these things? Of course, that does not mean that the government should step in and do the job of a good adult to protect their children... I'm just saying, the internet is not exactly the most kid-safe place.
For instance, I was playing on a counter-strike source server a few days ago. A six year old kid rolled into my server. We regularly have pornographic sprays, adult voice chat, etc... We all tone down how we act when he's in the server. But for every group of people who try to act good around young children on the internet, there will be 100 more groups willing to link them to 4chan.
Do your jobs, you god forsakenly poor parents!
Wow. Who would've thought that something that we've been using for so long had such a secret?
I mean... isn't that one of the few truths of the internet?
That if children get anywhere near a computer,
sexual predators spy on them through the webcams...
I also enjoy how the attorney general publicly refuted the results when he didn't like them.
I wish I could do that with things I don't want to be true.
Recession? nahh... War? No way.. thats just an exaggeration by liberal media.
I've seen 8 year olds riding Tokyo's subway system solo. The instant any of them show any signs of confusion or distress -- and that's very rare, since their parents teach them how to ride -- any number of genuinely helpful adults (plural) in the vicinity come to their rescue. This is all perfectly normal, and it's entirely within the physical world. Everyone is safe.
The Internet is not even physical. There's always a wire (or wireless connection) separating its participants. Simply combine the Internet with a parent or responsible adult and it's safer (psychologically) than even the Tokyo Metro. (And it's always physically safer.) If government simply concentrated on promoting and supporting good parenting, that'd solve myriad problems. [How about starting by allowing all qualified parent(s), including same-sex parents, to adopt?] The Internet is not a parent any more than a subway car or glass of milk is, so it's ridiculous that any government would try to make the Internet a parent.
My kids have been on the internet since a age of 2 (each).
Yes, the browser was pointed to Disney or Sesame Street, but they learned to go where they wanted to go. My oldest had the lock Netscape, but around 5yr I came one day found she had found away to URL prompt. So from that day forward I have left the browsers unlocked. My youngest first words would to the effect of "mom-dot-see-oh-em'.
Yes, I check on kids usage via firewall logs from time to time, but find nothing wrong. I even enter their rooms to see what they are doing (but VNC is easier).
My wife while telling about the birds and bees, also give the kids on-line lessons as well. Showing what happens when you mis-type some kids site names and showing how to get out of the mistake.
It is up to us to raise our kids.
It is up the Richard Blumenthals of the world to find a new job and let us raise our kids!
Those who have aggressively pushed the issue of the dangerous Internet, such as Connecticut's attorney general Richard Blumenthal, are less than happy with the report.
Of course, because without fear it is far more difficult to control people.
for adults.
But seriously sights of nudity and sex will not destroy a child. Parental abuse on the other hand...
I saw porn at age 8 due to discovering a friend's older brother's cache, and I am not a rapist nor would I ever hurt anybody...in fact, the porn was not that interesting until I hit puberty.
All it did was make me realize how much of the world was being hidden from me by adults, and it got me to read some childbirth books in the library to confirm the rumours.
So my theory is beating your children will make them rapists, not porn, because violence is taught best by action and those with bitter hearts will have less mercy.
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
Something tells me the research for this study avoided any site with "chan" in its URL.
Anybody want my mod points?
The Internet isn't a baby sitter any more than videos/DVDs. Responsible parents should monitor their children's media consumption and teach them about being critical, separating fantasy from reality etc.
My kids are too small to use a computer for now, but once they become big enough I'm not going to just let them browse at their leisure. I'm going to monitor them by first being there with them, and once it seems they are OK on their own I'm going to be in the same room. Only much later will I allow them to browse on their own, and even them I'm going to reserve the rights to monitor their logs.
Parents should get a grip and deal with the fact that getting kids involves parenting and responsibility. Not just media. I'm responsible for seeing to it that they exercise enough, eat healthily, brush their teeth, go to bed in time... That's the way it works.
.: Max Romantschuk
I know of many men who have complained about the same thing: they dare not intervene when a child is in trouble or threatened, for fear that they will be mistaken for the cause of the trouble.
It is very sad that our society has come to this, and there is no doubt whatever that it is the fault of the women. I don't mind saying that: I deal with stupid bitches every day.
And as another active member of the generation that BUILT the internet, I call bullshit. People who are seriously screwed up, almost invariably, do not recognize themselves as being screwed up. Not normal, certainly... but not screwed up.
As an active member of the internet generation, I have to say that the internet has done a lot to screw me up, mostly because I found 4chan early.
As an active member of the internet generation, I have to say that the internet has done a lot to help me (and I found 4chan early, too).
I was born in 1989, and I had unsupervised internet access starting around 1997 (when my parents first got dial-up). The first few times I was online, I was with my parents (just because we were in a group looking at this cool internet thing). A porn banner came up at one point during the group experience. I'm grateful this didn't launch my parents into knee-jerk lockdown mode. On the contrary, they just sat me down in the living room and talked to me for about 10 minutes. The gist of what they told me about the internet:
- Don't reveal your name, address, share photos of yourself, or do anything that identifies you (I didn't care; I already had enough friends at school. I didn't want to talk to anyone new online).
- If someone asks you for this info, don't tell them, and stop talking to them (Same as above).
- Don't look at porn; it's unrealistic and gross (I looked at porn anyway. It gave me a boner but I didn't even know what to do with it. After a while I got bored and went back to playing Quake).
- Don't do anything illegal. If you're not sure about something, ask us (I downloaded a ton of warez off of Hotline servers, but that's in a legal gray area).
Overall, it was pretty laissez-faire. Just some warnings about what to avoid. But that was it... no monitoring software, no cyber-sitter bullshit, no "you can't use the computer if we're not in the room" rules. I was happy about the rules they set up. I'd often be at a friend's and we'd want to play an online game or something. We could hardly ever do it because all of my friends' parents were scared shitless about the internet by shows like 20/20 and Dateline. They'd insist on being in the room if we were going to be online. Sometimes I'd argue with other parents, using defenses like "We're not idiots; we know not to tell people where we live or who we are. Give us a break". This didn't do much other than result in some angry calls to my own parents. My best friend's dad was pretty computer literate and went all CIA on his son's internet use... logs checked weekly, blacklisted sites, the works. This treatment lasted all the way through senior year at high school! Worse yet, when I offered to hook my friend up with a proxy or VPN, he balked and said he didn't want to go against his parents' wishes. I feel sorry for anyone who's conditioned to think that total surveillance like this is at all reasonable.
Parents who monitor your children's browsing: I realize you just want what's best for your child, but remember that you are not a demigod and that your children are human beings with a right to see the world for themselves. Seriously. "Shielding" them from pedophiles and naughty pictures is like never letting your kid out of the house for fear of ticks and rattlesnakes. If you're worried your kid will see goatse and be scarred for life, then open a web browser, look at it together, and talk about it. Your kid will probably see it either way (after he moves out, if it comes to that), so you might as well take the initiative and put it in perspective to minimize any danger. I'm living proof that seeing rotten.com, goatse, playing Quake, and looking at porn (all at an early age) does not fuck you up.
Should I ever have kids, they'll get about the same treatment I got - they'll know they can do anything and everything that doesn't risk measurable physical harm. They'll know right away that screwing up this simple rule means no more internet until they've learned their lesson. Considering my own childhood 'net experience, I don't expect any problems. I'll do my best to foster in my children an unquenchable curiosity about all parts (good and bad) of life on planet Earth... doing otherwise would serve only to chisel away a little bit of their lives.
Prior to looking at porn, I honestly had NO CLUE that anyone would partake in anal sex. It sure wouldn't have occurred to me otherwise. Seeing things like that led me to develop an academic interest in everything that I had never encountered in daily life
this is not what the REAL conversation is about, which is: the reason that adult males have REAL reasons to fear the consequences of attempting to help a strange child.
It is not about scaring the child, and it is not about giving the child false impressions, etc. In fact, it is not about the child at all. It is about the adults.
If you do not understand this dilemma, then you have been living a sheltered life. Wake up.
Unfortunatly Mr. Jackson isn't available at the moment. Just leave a message after the beep.
One of my regrets raising my two daughters, both in their early/mid teens, is that we have been over protective of them. They have lived very protected lives. When they were young, school was a couple of miles away and there were no kids in our neighborhood. They now live in the county so they have to be driven every where. So other than a couple of hours after school, we have complete control over what they do, who they see, who their friends are.
This is how my wife wants it to be. She has bought into the fear factor. "Everything is so much more dangerous these days." "Kids are not safe." "My child might get kidnapped, molested, or killed."
But at age 12 when she was growing up in the California Bay Area, she used to ride her horse 20 miles to the top of skyline not returning all day. When I point this out to her, she says "Oh but that was different, things were safer then."
I don't thing this is true. I think that if you look at the percentages, incidents per 100,000 people, I suspect that the numbers are probably similar to the 1950s and 1960s and better than in in the early 1900s or late 1800s. It is just that the population has increased by an order or more in magnitude and the media picks up each horrible event and makes it front page news. This makes the events seem much more common. "Yikes! Kids are getting raped and murdered every day!"
The regret I have for over protecting my kids is that in a few years they are going to go off to college. This may be the first time they are on their own. I think we have done a good job raising them so I am not too concerned that they will do something to totally screw up their lives. But they will face a lot of temptations. They will make bad choices; drugs, sex, lifestyle, paying attention to school work, etc. My concern is that they will be facing these situations without the security of home an family to moderate their behavior or to act as a protective cushion when they get hurt or in trouble. Yes we are there, but we are not there every night.
And I feel lucky. At least we have talked about sex and birth control. They live in the Sierra foothills in a rather conservative and religious community. I see some of our friends who have raised their kids in an even safer "Just say no" environment and I wonder what their kids are going to do in college. As an older generation used to say, "You know what they say about Catholic girls..."
Kids need to be given chances to make mistakes when they are young so they can learn from them in a loving protective environment.
My son has just turned 14 last december, and he is not only free to surf on the internet but I personally encourage him to do it as a way of finding knowledge.
Wow. 14. Already? Are you sure he's ready?
Just kidding. My five year old son types faster than I do.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Those who have aggressively pushed the issue of the dangerous Internet, such as Connecticut's attorney general Richard Blumenthal, are less than happy with the report.
hrm... is Richard pissed that he was wrong about his stance or that our children aren't in imminent danger?
I am Jack's smirking revenge.
Anyone who thinks such a study will change the hearts and minds of people is naive at best. Consider that:
-- Human beings have a strong inclination to cling to the anecdotal, the intuitive, the "obvious." There is a dearth of ability to look at things in a well-rounded, complete, scientific manner or to allow facts to override innate prejudices.
-- Never forget that many of the "think of the children" campaigns are not about "the children" at all -- the kids are just a convenient, emotional peg on which to hang the desire to ban or sanitize things for all of us.
-- Facts are simply not viewed as "facts" when they conflict with a strongly held belief, most especially one based at least in part on religious grounds.
These factors rear their ugly heads time and time again. Every yardstick shows that the War on Drugs is a failure, and actually counterproductive, yet the notion of legalizing/decriminalizing those substances (and shifting money and resources away from law enforcement and punishment, and towards education, prevention, and treatment) is anathema because "using drugs is wrong." Climate change is a fact that must be dealt with, but you will find countless naysayers who either have their own interests to protect (the oil companies, big business), or have such a limited and narrow understanding of the phenomenon that every colder than average event, trend, or season in isolated areas (such as what has been happening this winter in some parts of the U.S.) is instantly seen as "proof" that no such change is taking place. In the same manner, studies such as the one cited will not deter many individuals from believing that scads of ogreish perverts are stalking our children and that the "Internets" are a cesspool of danger.
Until and unless evolution produces more humans capable of accepting fact over emotion, of embracing the scientifically proven in lieu of the simplistically observed, of seeing the big picture and not focusing on isolated exceptions to the rule, then we shall continue to have studies like this marginalized or outright ignored. Maybe someday...don't hold your breath.
"Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket." -- Eric Hoffer