What's Wrong With Parents Teaching Their Kids That Not All Internet Content Is Good?
from the instead-of-spying-on-them? dept
It's no secret that not all content online is good for kids to see -- though, the "threats" have been greatly exaggerated. However, it doesn't stop self-declared online child safety "experts" from giving terrible advice. For example, here's an entire article based on the claims of one such expert claiming that, rather than teaching kids how to deal with stuff they might see online, the real answer is for parents to hover over their kids when they use the internet. This would be from the same expert who once suggested that the answer to cyberbullying was to have someone dress up as Spiderman and tell kids that cyberbullying was "bad" (very bad!). She also goes on (like others) to blame YouTube for making kids want to do bad stuff. The simple fact of the matter, however, is that it is not reasonable nor practical to monitor your kids' every action online. Obviously, for very young children, it could make sense, but once they reach a certain age, it's not going to happen. Yet, instead of hovering over them at all times, why not teach them some online street smarts -- just as you would teach them to be safe when they walk outside alone? Teach kids that not everything online is good, and teach them how to be careful when they surf. In other words, don't act like bad stuff will automatically kill them -- but teach them how to deal with it so that when it inevitably does come up, they know can handle it.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.
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Filed Under: kids, online safety
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chaperon your kids and they will folow the rules without learning them until you are gone then they will need to learn without any guidence
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nanny state
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"She"? The author's name is Steve Rock.
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And the expert cited in the article giving the advice is a female named Parry Aftab.
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Blaming YouTube
Vaughan is a company that makes hammers. It would be silly for Vaughan to be responsible if little Billy smashed little Timmy's head open with one of their fine products. So why do people keep blaming the tool and the producer of the tool for the actions of the people using it for the not intended purpose?
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Re: Blaming YouTube
No real thinking required.
Combine fear + humans amazing ability to rationalize with being intellectually lazy and you can see how people come up with all types of complete bullshit masqueraded as "solutions" to problems.
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Re: Re: Blaming YouTube
Yeah, because a gun can be used for so many other things beside killing and the Internet cannot.
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Re: Re: Re: Blaming YouTube
And of course there's a hell of a lot the internet can do, with little upper boundary.
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Might be some truth to that. I've seen some youtube videos that have made me want to kill the creator.
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Parents should teach thier kids that not all mains
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My Kid
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Re: My Kid
Does it work? You bet it does. A few months ago one of my children told me someone tried to get their name and contact information while they were in a chat area on AnimalPlanet. Not only did my child capture a log and tell me, but he also reported it to AnimalPlanet.
No 'expert' needed.
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The fear state of mind
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Re: The fear state of mind
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Cause for fear
Now guns are explained in our society by tv and movies as awesome abstractions which give power and only kill badguys in multitude and add momentary winces from anyone else. That a media that explains/frames such a simple tool so poorly can be little expected to do any better with a more complex subject.
Luckily parents who take the mystique and fun out of a gun by teaching it's uses and make it a tool can do the same with the wilds of the web. Just the same as any child should have a thoughtful parental conversation about sex and guns the net and probably pornography is necessary given our societies direction is in order for any youngster.
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Re: Cause for fear
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yeah, tell people not to do something...
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Re: yeah, tell people not to do something...
It's not about telling them "not" to do something. It's about letting them know that the internet isn't an entirely safe place and what to do if they come across material that's obviously not intended for kids.
The only ones saying the answer is banning kids from doing something are these so called "experts."
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I am concerned about these websites e.g. msn, bebo, stardoll etc etc and would like to suggest the use of an 'emergency button' link to a child support website with an online advisory service. The 'emergency button' could be given a standard symbol or be incorporated in internet explorer or another browser as a standard button.
The service should be provided by a government backed child support agency though - to ensure that it is not misused.
Regards
Kim
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Good parents monitor their kids viewing habits whether it's a tv screen or a computer screen. Bad parents just let their kids run wild them blame youtube if their kids ends up screwed up.
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Re: Re:by Brian
Any parent who has use the internet for more than a few hours should realize that the internet has some negative content JUST LIKE TV.
Good parents monitor their kids viewing habits whether it's a tv screen or a computer screen. Bad parents just let their kids run wild them blame youtube if their kids ends up screwed up.
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