The Internet. Harry Potter. People of other or no religious views. Disney.
All of those things have been said by someone or another to be corrupting kids today. You know what? I don't buy it. The major danger, in my opinion, is that those kids will be the ones raised not to be able to think for themselves, to make any sort of decision or to trust in their own moral system without checking with mommy/daddy/church first. Those kids worry me a lot more than the ones who are out there on the internet living and learning, because the overrestricted kids are the ones who will grow up looking for someone to lead them around by the hand, more likely to fall into a cult or an abusive relationship because they want someone to take charge of their lives. They won't know how.
Oh, I'm not saying that there aren't dangers out here on the internet for kids. For adults too, come to that, but hey, life is dangerous. You can't escape danger, not even by shutting yourself in the house with no connection to the outside world, you could still slip and crash your head against a wall. What's important is that people learn what the dangers are and what to do about them.
Several of you have already stated that the best way to deal with kids on the internet is to have their parents know what they are doing online, and talk to them. I definitely agree. I have seen kids who will believe almost anything and who are out there digging for attention because I know someone who seems to attract those kids. Some of them are trying to find too adult relationships for themselves. This speaks not only for the need for parental supervision on the internet, but for the need of some sort of intervention or supervision in the rest of their lives--they wouldn't be looking for something so inappropriate for them if they didn't know it existed somehow. These kids scare me too.
I am freshly through with a Juvenile Delinquency class in college (I graduate on Saturday with a BA in Psychology! yay!) and so I've seen too much that has me absolutely convinced of two things...
One huge major answer for problems with kids rests with the parents, not the whole answer but a lot of it, and
There is no way to legislate parental love and concern or to license parenting. The best we can do is remove kids from some of the bad situations they're living in, and we're overswamped with those so we can't get them all.
It's definitely a scary world out there, no matter who you are...and what's happening to kids these days scares me more than most things.
While it may be true that people *shouldn't* base what they read on what others read... they're always going to. Really! Do you buy a book because your friend walks up to you and says "this book is crap, it really stinks?" or do you buy books because someone told you it was great? This sort of list is where a lot of people look to see what other people think is good.
Personally, I've never been the sort to rely on bestseller lists--I never agree with the critics on movies and my tastes do run to sci-fi/fantasy so as discussed my style of reading won't show up there anyhow. I do pay attention to word of mouth though, to help me decide what to pick up next when I haven't got a specific book in mind. If I'm going into a bookstore to buy a book, I am not going to just run my finger along the shelf and buy one at random, I will buy books that people I know with similar tastes to me like, or by authors that I already know I like, or by the stuff on the back cover. Even then, I sometimes get a book I don't enjoy...but it happens less often.
To me, book reviews and talking to others work better than reading the bestseller lists...but hey, if others like bestseller lists, whatever makes them happy!;)
Slashdot Mirror
That's not how it works--you don't get to pick and choose which permissions an app gets. It's "this app will access these things, install or cancel"
not to say being able to select what permissions each app gets wouldn't be a nice thing in some respects, but it's not how it works.
All of those things have been said by someone or another to be corrupting kids today. You know what? I don't buy it. The major danger, in my opinion, is that those kids will be the ones raised not to be able to think for themselves, to make any sort of decision or to trust in their own moral system without checking with mommy/daddy/church first. Those kids worry me a lot more than the ones who are out there on the internet living and learning, because the overrestricted kids are the ones who will grow up looking for someone to lead them around by the hand, more likely to fall into a cult or an abusive relationship because they want someone to take charge of their lives. They won't know how.
Oh, I'm not saying that there aren't dangers out here on the internet for kids. For adults too, come to that, but hey, life is dangerous. You can't escape danger, not even by shutting yourself in the house with no connection to the outside world, you could still slip and crash your head against a wall. What's important is that people learn what the dangers are and what to do about them.
Several of you have already stated that the best way to deal with kids on the internet is to have their parents know what they are doing online, and talk to them. I definitely agree. I have seen kids who will believe almost anything and who are out there digging for attention because I know someone who seems to attract those kids. Some of them are trying to find too adult relationships for themselves. This speaks not only for the need for parental supervision on the internet, but for the need of some sort of intervention or supervision in the rest of their lives--they wouldn't be looking for something so inappropriate for them if they didn't know it existed somehow. These kids scare me too.
I am freshly through with a Juvenile Delinquency class in college (I graduate on Saturday with a BA in Psychology! yay!) and so I've seen too much that has me absolutely convinced of two things...
It's definitely a scary world out there, no matter who you are...and what's happening to kids these days scares me more than most things.
Kris
Personally, I've never been the sort to rely on bestseller lists--I never agree with the critics on movies and my tastes do run to sci-fi/fantasy so as discussed my style of reading won't show up there anyhow. I do pay attention to word of mouth though, to help me decide what to pick up next when I haven't got a specific book in mind. If I'm going into a bookstore to buy a book, I am not going to just run my finger along the shelf and buy one at random, I will buy books that people I know with similar tastes to me like, or by authors that I already know I like, or by the stuff on the back cover. Even then, I sometimes get a book I don't enjoy...but it happens less often.
To me, book reviews and talking to others work better than reading the bestseller lists...but hey, if others like bestseller lists, whatever makes them happy! ;)