Blaming The Internet For Children's Sexual Aggression... With No Proof
from the where's-the-proof dept
The headline on this article reads "Internet linked to kids' sexual aggression" and so I went to read it, thinking that it would be interesting to see some decent statistics showing how the internet does impact such things. If the evidence is there, I'm willing to believe it. However, when you read the article, there's no evidence whatsoever. The one bit of statistical info is that the number of reports of kids molesting other children (which is different than the actual number of incidents) has tripled. That's it. What about the internet connection the headline promises? "One of our suggestions is that it may be, in fact, the Internet." Great. Because someone thinks that maybe possibly the internet plays a role in this, they're announcing there's a "link"? There's no other evidence mentioned other than a hunch and a "perhaps that's where they're learning some of these behaviors." This is a topic that does deserve some research and some real facts - no matter what proves to be true. Unfortunately, this "report" does no such thing.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team