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Most Parents Allow Unsupervised Internet Access To Children At Age 8
colinneagle writes "The timing for this study is interesting, given the arrests of two teenagers believed to have bullied a 12-year-old classmate until she committed suicide, but Microsoft found that 94% of parents said they allow their kids unsupervised access to at least one device or online service like email or social networks. The average age at which most children are allowed access to at least one online service, such as email or social media, was 8 years old, while 40% allow children under the age of 7 to access a computer unsupervised."
My kids are 4 and 7. They've been exposed to computers as early as possible. We play a lot of minecraft. The 7 year old has graduated to looking at odd things on youtube and "Movie Star Planet" She loves to tell me, "If you search Justin Beiber on google, it says, "Justin Beiber eats poop"
I think it's good.
Just last week I'm building a PC and the older one wants to help. It wasn't a full build, just plugging in cables. I was in shock though, she pretty much knew where everything was supposed to go. She just lacked the hand/eye to wiggle things in correctly.
In school they're both far ahead of their peers in terms of reading and typing.
If Zero Cool was not a lesson to all parents, I don't know what is. The fact that he grew up to be Sherlock Holmes is neither a blessing nor a curse.
Time Bomber the Book coming soon.
Both of my children (6 and 8) have their own gmail accounts with every restriction I can find turned on. They do not know the passwords and Chrome is only browser installed on their computer, which lives in the living room. After one of my History checks I did have to discuss some questionable Mario and Princess Peach videos.
It's the parenting and maturity of the kid that counts; environment plays a role too.
Another problem with a statement like this is that "unsupervised" can mean a lot of things. When I was on a farm I had "unsupervised" access to my dirt bike at age five or so - even had chores which required its use about a mile away from the house (although I don't remember when the close in tasks/riding moved up to the further away ones). I bet my parents still kept an ear open and an eye on the clock while I was out on it and it's a sure thing that they spent the time making sure I knew what I was doing and how much trouble I'd be in if I went past the limits.
Other tools are the same way - knives, hand tools, power tools, guns (again environment is important - I was on a farm out in the country where there were active bounties on certain pests as well as other hazards (suspected rabid animals which needed putting down, etc...)), and even the internet. So, either parents these days are being reckless with their children's safety, or they've gotten a reasonable handle on how to teach their kids about limits and safety on the 'net. Personally, I think it's more of the latter than the former - but of course there's no test required to become a parent other than the physical.
Oh, if someone want's to play the "what if a pedophile targets your kid" card, I'll just say that there are tools to deal with that situation too - pretty much the same list as earlier ;)
Just goes to show how little Americans understand how the Net works.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I have two great kids but we simply DON'T allow unfettered access to the internet. Folks think I'm nuts, but we do not allow unmonitored access to social networks, e-mail or chat services from ANY device. Having been in the network security business previously, I have the tools and equipment to actually control and monitor what my kids are doing. I have multiple layers of network security and logging. They might manage to get by the filters, but they won't bypass the logging so I'll know. What's more, they both KNOW they are being monitored and I reenforce that view regularly by asking them about specifics I find in the logs. We also make sure that internet access happens only in the common spaces in our home. We have laptops (3) but you cannot take them to your room by yourself to use them and nobody but me has an administrative account.
Any parent who just turns the kids loose on the net is NUTS. There is a huge percentage of trash out there and it is irresponsible to just let a kid access this junk either on purpose or by accident. Parents need to be *active* in this area to avoid the sad stories like this one, as rare as it is. There are a number of other reasons to know what your kids are up to, sexting, pedophiles, identity theft, bullying etc are all reasons you need to at least monitor what your kids are doing online. (Not to mention to keep the NPAA off your case should they figure out how to bittorrent the latest movie they want..)
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Just "most parents in the population sampled."
At age 8, I would never have allowed my parents unsupervised use of the home PC.
Now, by 12 or 13, I had learned enough about security basics to limit their access enough as to render them relatively harmless. But before that? No frickin' way - One "install our daily free coupon print driver" ad away from needing to do a total reimage.
Oh, wait... You meant... Ahahaahahhaaaaahah!!11!!1!!!!!
How quaint. As though non-IT professional parents have the least shot at keeping their kids off the internet. Cute notion, though.
8 years old supervised, 12 unsupervised but monitored and 16+ unmonitored.
You meant: 1.5 unsupervised but monitored. At that age a non-stupid kid can operate a tablet well enough to turn it on and, eg, browse youtube categories.
That's one of my nephews. For the other one, his parents tried to keep him away from computers, but they visit relatives often enough that they gave up at the age of 3 and merely limit the time spent.
Supervising school-age children: ha ha ha. Monitoring might be doable early on, but only in the first few school years unless you're a nazi. I happen to know a 11 years old who's semi-competent at Unix sysadmin tasks; had I a kid of my own I'd strive for something of this kind rather than try to bring up a luddite.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
...in 1996/1997 on AOL. I recall, 5 years later, our excitement when we got MSN after AOL got stupid, the parental controls on it were totally broken & I saw all the vaginas I wanted from then on out.
What about in real life?
Do you honestly constantly monitor your 8 year old 24x7?
At age 4 I was already allowed to walk to friends houses that were a few blocks away.
By age 8, I was playing alone in the woods next to a highway.
By 14, I was staying up all night with my friends playing RPGs.
At 16, I got a girlfriend, and suddenly I needed a curfew.
And in "real life" 100% of parents allow 8-year-olds to have unsupervised in-person social interaction with their peers (and probably on the phone as well). The fact that socialization is happening with the aid of a computer does not make it inherently more dangerous; without the Interwebs this girl would still have been harassed, and we should be working to stop the harassment, not to stop the use of computers in harassment.
If you don't have children, you have no clue about this topic. And if you do, you're concerned about the lost child. But not enough to support those that would turn the internet into a corporate sponsored lock down.
I use to think I'd be a fine husband, till I got married.
I use to think I'd be a fine father, till I had chidren.
I use to think I'd be a fine grandparent; I pray that I just don't fuck this up.
i was unsupervised at 8, unsupersed at 12 and heavily monitored at 15+. my parents didnt like me watching porn.
... my mother was driving the tractor on the farm at age five. What kind of moronic five year olds do you know?
Although I allowed them unsupervised but still monitored access to the internet at age 12. Before age 12, they were always supervised.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
You are a fucking shutin idiot if you dont think the poster you are replying to is actually fairly typical of a more rural area. Or even go back 30 years ago in the suburbs. 5 year old are much more capable than you presume.
It's amazing at how many (including taxpayer) dollars are spent "educating" the kids about the "evils" of online copyright infringement. These dollars would be better spent educating about online bullying and setting up a website where kids, at their option anonymously, can get help from a real human being (of course properly vetted).
When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
Here too, bro.
When I was 4, I walked 3/4 of a mile to a neighbor's house, cutting through a cornfield along the way, just to bring back a few quarts of strawberries for my mom.
When I was 8, I hung out unsupervised in that very cornfield lighting off firecrackers with kids 8, 9 and 10 years old.
By 10, we all walked along the interstate to the truckstop to look for half-smoked cigarettes on the ground left behind by truckers.
By 12, we were picking jimson weed along the highway to mix in with the cigarettes.
At 13, I was hanging out with 15 and 16 year olds who knew where to get pot.
By 14, I was one of those kids who knew where to get pot.
At 16, my source of pot introduced me to meth. I soon was selling it to one of my friends' mom in exchange for sexual favors (unprotected).
At 17, I got arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possesion of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, was tried as an adult and spent 18 months in prison.
Now I'm 27, I've been clean for 9 years and work as a social worker with kids/young adults whose parents, like mine, couldn't be bothered to supervise them. This is real life.
Have gnu, will travel.
People forgot about NSA quickly I see.
Not them, but I rode my bicycle to and from elementary school starting at 1st grade... Age 5. I also had to help KILL, GUT, AND COOK food. Take a trip to any 3rd world country and you'll see kids younger than 5 helping out.
Your culture is bullshit. Thats why your kids are bullshit. That's why your parents are bullshit and try to censor the kids against reality... You laugh when little boys are DUMBER than 3rd world nation kids -- You laugh because boys think girls have penises and girls think that boys don't; Then you wonder why the ignorance leads to teen pregnancy. You shelter them from the reality of how their favorite foods make it to the table; Then you wonder why they don't give a damn about decades long wars that kill hundreds of thousands of INNOCENT people. You are the bullshit.
At age 8 I was reading about black holes in science magazines and had taught myself how to code in GW-BASIC and created a lesson plan / grade manager program (basically a custom spreadsheet w/ reports) for my Geography teacher, and was selling my software on Compuserve. My parents let me do, read and watch whatever I wanted, and stay up as long as I liked as long as I was respectful and my responsibilities were met: Chores done, and I went to school the next day. They respected that I was a sentient being. It's too bad your parents treated you like bullshit.
I gave my kids (11 and 6) uncensored access to the net as an experiment. The computers they use are in the living room so I didn't expect anything too extreme, but I did expect that we'd have conversations about content. And we did. After several days I insisted they did something other than watch Minecraft videos.
Now we were poor and didn't have a video camera, but I'm pretty sure my parent's photo album still has several shots of me zipping through the alfalfa. Perhaps the following will help your perception of what a five year old kid can do:
5 YO on a 50 cc Yamaha
Another 5 YO on a 50 cc bike
This one has a 3 YO But mine didn't have training wheels.
My parents weren't reckless though; I was at least 6 before my dad removed the speed governor.
That is *your* real life. Others of us didn't become drug dealers.
At age 8 I was reading about black holes in science magazines and had taught myself how to code in GW-BASIC
So you were a perfectly average 8-year-old in the 1980's. Good for you.
It was a different time. Kids today have advantages we would have killed for, sure, but they also face different problems. Parents also face dramatically different social and legal pressures.
When we were kids, it wasn't a big deal to ride your bike a few miles to a friends house, not checking in until after dark to ask if you can stay over night. Today, you're face would end up on the news before lunch, and net your parents a few visits from social services.
Christ, just look at shit like this. If it were satire, it would be too implausible to be funny, but that's reality.
Why can't little Johnny code? Because we suspended him for planning out a game where you shot alien space ships with guns. The Horror!
Blame "culture" if you want, but it's a culture we've created. We're not kids any more. This is our world now. We did this. We're the ones who allow nonsense like the above to continue unchecked.
What are you going to do about it?
Required reading for internet skeptics
The samefag is strong with this one. Seriously AC posting to another AC about how its "thread over" Nice try AC. Nice try.
At 16, how were you able to get meth and sell it for sexual favors without repaying the guy for meth? If you make up stories, try to make them believable. Seriously, as someone who was exposed to some weird shit when they were younger, and I was getting stoned and spending most of my class time getting drunk in high school. After highschool I got heavily into RCs, MDMA, and other designer drugs. Guess what? I was able to still run my own side business, go to school, and hold a full time job. I was never really supervised after I turned 14. All I fail to see is someone who really lacked focus in their life. Mine wasn't given to me by my parents, I just wanted that bank. I saw that being a total fuckup like the people I hung out with in HS was going to lead me nowhere fast, so I broke away from them to make it for myself. Maybe I'm different, but if I was getting laid by my friends mom to fuel her drug habit, I'd be looking down that road and wondering if I really wanted to take that. Maybe you were just too weak minded to have that foresight. Or maybe it was games teaching me early on that if I fuck up now and screw off, its going to be a long and painful path to the end boss.
I learned causality from gaming early on, I didn't learn it from my parents. I was unsupervised from 14 going on (with very lax supervision) when I was 10. I got into drugs... 'responsibly'. I never let them take over my life and interfere with me being a normal person. His real life is due to his poor decisions, not due to his parents lack of supervision. I turned out fine.
By the time children are able to get in trouble online, they are smart enough to bypass your best efforts. A 7 year old will see naked people "wrestling" and go off looking for my little pony videos. A 13 year old will go a public library on a way back from school and login to a secret facebook account with fake birthday.
The trick is to start presenting realistic, unembelished facts at 7 so that a 13 year old finds you credible enough to consider your warnings seriously.
I am a natural born US citizen, who is also a citizen of Colombia and Panama. Both decidedly third world countries. I also have taught classes in both places and worked for companies for pesos. In addition I have worked in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, and Ecuador. In those countries kids until there are about 15 are under their mothers skirts because they are helpless. Your experience is not germane to the rest of the world. Get off your high horse, and your mother needs to tell you that other people can be smart.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Mind if I LOL'ed?
My grandpa had a store selling magazines, and yes, THAT kind of mags, too. And since back then a lot more was legal than today, of course there were various subjects handled in there that were "twisted", "sick" and worse. Oddly, though, it didn't warp me into some sort of demented, twisted, palm-haired and spine-curved sexual deviant freak.
Though, believe me, I was a very interested 8 year old back then. Even though some of the things didn't really make a lot of sense to me. Like, why a guy WANTS to get his ass spanked. That wasn't "frightening", "scary" or "intimidating", if anything it was hilarious. Once I found out that this kind of scene is the main topic of that certain magazine, though, I steered clear of it. Not 'cause I was scared it would screw me up, more 'cause it just simply wasn't interesting to me, there were plenty other, better magazines to satisfy my curiosity.
I agree on the topic of kids meeting other people (especially people they meet on the internet), but I wouldn't tack it to porn if you wanted to get taken serious by anyone who actually had access to porn at an early age.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Odd how lives work out differently.
Guess it comes down to "know your kids' circle of friends" rather than locking your kids up 'til they're 18 and then throw them out into the world unprepared.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Children can hurt themselves on the Internet... Quite badly...
No, seriously.
I have never seen any credible evidence whatsoever that children can be harmed by any particular nasty bits they see or read online. If they aren't interested in something they simply laugh or say, "Ewwww, gross," and move on. But they can nevertheless get themselves in a world of trouble online in various, and I don't think that age 8 is anywhere near mature enough to even begin to understand how they can destroy their own lives by making certain mistakes online.
Let's just take for instance the batshit insane prosecution of young people who take naughty pics or videos of themselves or a "friend" while they are underage. The way things are going there are many people who probably want to start branding people even those still under the age of consent as sex offenders for this kind of thing, but rest assured that as soon as you turn 18 you WILL be branded a sex offender for LIFE if some so-called "adult" or law enforcement somehow finds out you are in possession of such things, even if it's a picture of YOURSELF that you took yesterday, just before you turned 18.
Yeah, that shit happens in this country. Look it up. And once you are branded a "witch"--oh, sorry, a "sex offender", that shit is with you FOREVER, no matter how ridiculous or even false is the reason the label was originally applied. Oh, and you think this only applies to you if you live in an insane puritanical country like the US? Think again. This is really becoming a global society now. Something you do that's perfectly legal in your own country could land you in prison in another country, even decades later.
You're American and go drinking under age 21 in Europe and post the evidence on Facebook? Come back to the US and bam!, "We see you've been underage drinking while you were away. It was legal there but you're an American citizen, so we're still going to prosecute you and make you go through a drinking program. Since you're over 18 now this will of course be on your permanent legal record. You're welcome." I don't know if that specifically can happen right now (i.e. prosecution for underage drinking), but there's no reason it can't. I know for a fact that Americans are being prosecuted for things like sex offenses that happened completely outside the jurisdiction of the United States that weren't necessarily offenses at the time or location where they took place, so why not other offenses? Every nation on Earth is on track to extend their concept of "jurisdiction" to the entire planet. The US government sure feels like they already have jurisdiction over everyone, everywhere.
You'll notice I am very busy in this post NOT insulting the monarchy of Thailand. I may wish to go back there for a visit again someday. No matter where I am physically located, if I post an insult to the King of Thailand online and their immigration department finds it, I could be barred from ever entering Thailand again or imprisoned if they find out after they let me in. God forbid you're a citizen of some even more insane country like Saudi Arabia. "Oh, we see you are a female Saudi citizen and were photographed behind the wheel of an automobile while on vacation in America. Also, you were unsupervised by a male at the time. Now that you're back, here are your 2,000 lashes and/or death by stoning. You're welcome."
So, what used to be a youthful indiscretions that didn't really matter can easily put a serious crimp on a child's life, wherever you're from. It is not the content of the Internet that will damage a child directly, as the moral-panicking parents always believe. It is that which the child creates that can leave them without possible job prospects or life choices decades later, because of how OTHER PEOPLE react to what the child leaves behind in their wake. The Internet truly does not forget, and even if privacy laws are strongly enhanced in any specific country that fact will never change.
We're all well down the road to making a ton of sil
IRC, where I learned to type.
Pre-VoiceComms era video-gaming, where I learned to type fast.
I suddenly feel old now.
This 4 year old and 5 year old would disagree with you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOh-Bg7jsrY
I've often entertained the idea that a decent but not foolproof filter system is exactly the right thing to deploy: your children will be forced to learn about computers in order to hack around your filter, and the fact that they can do it will be proof that they're mature enough to be entrusted with what they find.
Today, your face would end up on the news before lunch, and net your parents a few visits from social services.
Only if you live in the United States of America.
Do you really expect a parent to stand over a kid whenever he's online? The original incident said that the suiical girl was bullied AT THE SCHOOL as well as on the Internet. There was no adult looking over their shoulders when they were talking on the playground.
Maybe this relates to the NSA? Maybe Americans want somebody looking over their shoulders all the time to make sure that nothing bad ever happens to them?
Shit happens. Get used to it. And teach your kid to deal with it. Also teach your kid not to do it. But don't expect anyone to protect your kid from other people; it can't be done. Not by the other kid's parents or the teachers or the playground supervisors or the police or the FBI or the NSA.
My father heavily monitored me 15+, I guess he liked watching porn :)
All those number are missing some really important context.
How many kids in total are working/living on farms.
If the number is, say, 20,000, then your numbers should cause outrage.
If the number is, say, 20,000,000, then probably not.
As well, useful context would compare deaths/100,000 for kids on farms vs kids not on farms. Same with injuries.
I wouldn't be surprised if the death rate were lower on farms, but the injury rate might be higher.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Parents (and I am one myself), don't get dragged into the media hype of paedophiles and internet bullies everywhere. Your child is much more likely to be run over by a car.
Timo's Audio Software http://www.esseraudio.com
If parents have to rely on censorship, they have already failed in their education. Three of our four already grew up to become happy productive and thriving adults, and we never ever censored them. Right from when they started to walk they were granted their private sphere, and once they were able to read they had unrestricted and unmonitored internet access.
And no, we are not some bogans living in a trailer park. I am a medical doctor and owner of a group practice and one of my "uncensored growing up" offspring will soon be too. The kids already were exposed to viewing a female breast right form birth on anyway, so what point in hiding anything from them?
It is usually not what the children see elsewhere that makes or breaks their future, but what they experience (or fail to experience) within their own family.
I was riding bikes at that age too on the farm. They are not full sized bikes, motor cross bikes have always come in small because you typically do start young. Just because you didn't do jack at 5 is not the same as no one else did or can.
If information wants to be free, why does my internet connection cost so much?
The problem on a farm is that there is a large set of accidents that are quite survivable in the city because you get fast medical attention, where on a farm you are dead. We were always aware that even with a cell phone, help was 40 min or longer away from where we lived. And good medical help far longer.
But you also missed some extra context to this "Oh my god people die on farms" GP post. I had a blast. I would far prefer to live my life before i die, than wait around to be old and sour and die anyway. I mean cars are bloody lethal. Yet we drive. In fact almost anyone in the west is mostly likely going to get a heart attack or cancer as your ticket out of life. Not some quad bike accident. Thou i did have a few of those.
If information wants to be free, why does my internet connection cost so much?
I've got three boys: 9, 7 and 3. The oldest has been around long enough he got started at age 2 1/2, maybe 3, actually sitting at our desktop clicking and bashing the keyboard. Our youngest had the iPad and iPhone figured out well before his second birthday. The middle son was somewhere in between.
Our 7 year old saved his pennies and bought his own el-Cheapo Android Tablet (a Sero 7 Lite, not terrible, actually), which is basically his most prized possession on earth. I set up an account for him with el-Goog, so I could buy him Google Play cards for him to get his own apps. He hasn't actually e-mailed anyone on his own; he has asked me to show him how to do it, but I haven't given him anyone's email address except my own. Mainly he plays Minecraft (and Minecraft Youtube videos).
Minecraft videos (which often include "colorful metaphors") is about as racy as it gets. They all mainly stick to games, apps and websites that cater to the under 13 set. Roblox.com, a10.com, Angry Birds and the like. My wife plays WoW, which they sometimes watch, and she's on occasion conned our 9 year old into gold farming for her. He hasn't figured out yet that that's the boring part of the game. So thus far really no biggie, but I'm just waiting for the hormones to kick in and them to start nagging me for their own cell phones.
I don't know much about drugs outside of "drugs are bad mmm'kay", but it was my understanding that meth is relatively cheap. If he was selling other drugs, I'm sure he had a bit of pocket change to afford meth to get sexual favors.
Christ, just look at shit like this. If it were satire, it would be too implausible to be funny, but that's reality.
And the school's justification is that they have to consider every potential threat to avoid school shooting/bombing.
Yeah right.
Again a perfect exemple of over-reaction.
How many school bombing have ever happened in the decade before this kind of "Ban-Children-Drawing-Bombs" madness started to be enforce?
I bet you that in the developed world, its near zero. (In developing countries with still active conflicts the situation is different).
How many autistic kids (aka "special needs" in this article) are out there? a lot (a dozen per 1000 according to some estimate).
But better hurt the hundreds kids by teaching them that they should never try to make pictures because sometimes adults will react weirdly to them, than have the risk of keeping so many school bombing per decade (hint: probably zero).
Why can't little Johnny code? Because we suspended him for planning out a game where you shot alien space ships with guns. The Horror!
But one of the alien's name was an anagram of the school principal's name! That's a clear proof that little Johnny was planning to "go Columbine Massacre" on his school!
We must suspend him, and buy 10x more metal detectors for schools!
Huh... what's this thing called "catharsis" that you keep mentionning ? I can't hear you over the sound of the monney that lobbyist got from metal detector manufacturer.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Oh, 2 years ago a kid suffered face-to-face and online bullying and did away with themselves. So now ALL kids should be supervised by a parent when online, perhaps until age 12. That will help! Then since the bullying was face to face as well, parents should also supervise face to face meetings with other kids. Quite a few parents are in fact themselves monstrous bullies, and some even kill their kids or their kids commit suicide after suffering all kinds of abuses at their hands. I conclude that parents should be supervised when they are supervising kids under the age of 12. Adults entrusted with supervising kids, such as Catholic priests, schoolteachers and ex criminals also require supervision when they are with kids. Let's all go supervise each other!
Different people turn out differently.
At age 4 I was allowed to go outside and play unsupervised. Living in a rural area my "roaming range" was about a 3 sq mile area.
At age 7 I was allowed to go hunting (yes, with a real shotgun) by myself.
At age 11 I was given a computer with a modem. The internet wasn't really common for households yet, but I spent a ton of time on BBS systems. Admittedly, like any curious kid I did find a bit of porn on there, but it didn't scar me for life or anything. It was actually a shocker as like many kids playing games and such I'd seen girls my age naked, but a grown woman looked quite a bit different. Looking back it was actually somewhat educational.
At age 13, given how far out we lived and the complete lack of cops to check a license, my dad actually started letting me take the truck up to the local store (about 4 miles up the road) to pick up stuff.
By the age of 15 I had an evening job at that store that I continued till I got out of high school.
I personally turned out just fine. Eventually graduated 2nd in my high school class, was the first person in my family to get a college degree, and now have a pretty good job as a programmer (getting me that computer when I was young paid off).
Helicopter parenting isn't always necessary, nor even recommended.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Seriously, how it the term "average" used in this context.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
I had unfettered access to a computer, but there was for all intents and purposes no internet when I was a kid.
I had access to many BBS, but they worst thing I was probably subjected to was a naked photo of Troi from STTNG (which took forever to download on 2400). Which is why I found the Simpsons reference to comicbookguy and Janeway so funny.
As an adult I have see things on the internet in which I wish I could unsee. There is a whole generation coming to adulthood that is going to be very different from those before it. There is a fine line between sheltering and protecting. I don't think it is in doubt that eventually they are going to see everything it is they want (or not) to see on the internet. Trying to delay that point a bit until they are mature enough to not be overly damaged by it is probably not a bad idea.
That said kids have had access to porn at a young age in my generation and before, if not quite as easily and in magazine form (or quite that early).
This article is fake.
All children of all ages browser the internet supervised and monitored by the NSA!
I'm fairly sure a lot of that stuff is available on the internet as well, I didn't bother looking. Mostly various fetish and BDSM stuff.
And you would NOT believe what kind of fetishes have an audience...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Yeah "unsupervised has many meanings. My 10 year old has "uncontrolled access to the internet: no filters, no blocks. But his computer is right next to mine, I see what he is seeing and hear what he is hearing all the time he in on line. Maybe when he has found the nasty corners and we have talked them out i'll let him move his computer.
Subversion of spatial scale luxury decoration ideas.
My mom was driving to school at 13. The rule was: If you see a car pull off the raod and stop until they are gone.
Different times man
Subversion of spatial scale luxury decoration ideas.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8740992
It was a different time. Kids today have advantages we would have killed for, sure, but they also face different problems. Parents also face dramatically different social and legal pressures.
Don't go running around with your reasonable and rational arguments. We'll have none of that here on /.