Internet Safe For Kids!
Well, mostly and only from adults.
You know all the scary stuff the media has been telling us about on-line predators and how they’re all out to get our kids? Turns out, it’s not as true as the sensationalist, bottom-feeding media would have us believe. In a story at the New York Times, via Slashdot, they discuss a report done by an independent group who took a closer look at those claims about the endless waves of Very Bad People who were just lurking on social media sites to steal our children and it turns out they were mostly over-blown. Oh, to be sure, such things happen and those people do exist, but the study indicated that those children who were at risk on-line were at risk period. In other words, the Internet was just a facilitator, not a root cause.
Also, the study found that kids were more likely to have trouble with other kids. Cyber-bullying, and bullying in the real world, was found to be a much, much bigger problem and far more pervasive.
The thing is, though, it’s much easier to take the low road and whip everyone into a frenzy over a problem like child molesters running free on the Internet than it is to take responsibility for our own kids and how they treat others.
Bullying will continue to get worse, too. We send our kids to school at the ripe old age of 5, where they are sent out on to playgrounds to teach each other how to socialize. Until society gets it together and realizes that the most important education a child can get in grades k-3 is how to socialize in effective and fair ways, the future of our species is at risk. “It was good enough for me” is the insane response I usually hear when I say that. The poor socialization in schools is undoubtedly at play in situations like enron and money market collapses. People learn to prey on each other at 5, and they never seem to see anything wrong with it. And they can hide behind the finger they point at child molesters.
Comment by Cheri — 2/4/2009 @ 11:58 am
That’s really very insightful, Cheri. More so because you used to be a full-time educator and still are involved in that field. And, yes, there has to be a better way to deal with bullying than the ways I learned as a child. They tended to make me a rather unsympathetic adult. I do know that at least some progress has been made, based on my niece and nephews, but there’s still such a long way to go.
Comment by the Network Geek — 2/4/2009 @ 5:10 pm
Every time there is some kind of danger for the children, we must find a scapegoat to prevent to take care of our problems.
The predators will be on the internet, but also on the parks
We need to explain to our sons and daughters how to protects themselves and also that they will count with us when they have any problems or doubt.
Comment by YOUTHENTREPRENEUR — 2/4/2009 @ 8:36 pm