Is the Internet Safe for Children

One controversial aspect of the internet is whether or not it is safe for kids....

They say that children on the internet do a number of things: they play video games and go on social networking cites. They have a lot of freedom on the internet and sometimes when their parents are not looking they can venture on to cites that may be dangerous or harmful.

The above video seems kind of silly, but it is useful. Kids sometimes use the internet more than their parents and not every kid is a bad kid, but sometimes they accidentally navigate onto bad cites. This is again where we have to weigh the positives and negative of the internet, but also learn how to use the internet in the best ways. This has been one of the controversial disputes over the web, but I think it can be solved with just a few simple things.

One would be to get pop up blockers on your computer so that inappropriate things do not pop up. Also another thing would be to monitor your child's computer time. Have the child only use the computer when you are there to watch. Another thing would be to have the computer in a central location like a family room. When I was younger we had our computer in the kitchen so that my parents could monitor what I was doing. My last piece of advice would be to get a cite blocker so that your children could only get on the cites you permit them to. With these few simple things the topic does not become so controversial anymore. There is no need to remove a computer from your children completely!

http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1871664,00.html

Time recently posted an article concerning this same topic. it talks about a lot of the things I talked about, but then also cyber bullying. They say this should be one of our top priorities when monitoring children on the internet. A lot of kids now a days get bullied on the internet. It is very easy to hide behind our technology and say things we wouldn't normally say in person and a lot of school bullies are taking advantage of this. The article also talks about how we use our technology to keep our kids safe from technology. This really is ironic and somewhat of a paradox. They say it is important to just not over do it when it comes to monitoring children and to pick and choose battles.