Growing Up Online Pt. 2
Before I begin my tirade (because I promise you, this WILL be a tirade!) please allow me to apologize for not being around... I have been very, very much under the weather. It has not been easy, but I am ok, and that is ALL that matters!!! Now, onto my soapbox I climb.
And so, as promised, I watched the PBS "Frontline" special, "Growing Up Online". I have to admit that I spent pretty much the entire program with my mouth agape. I could not believe some of the things that I heard and saw ... and so I will start at the beginning. Hopefully you had a chance to see it also, if not I strongly suggest that you do, especially if you have children!
The first thing that I heard that scared me was a young man, aged 16-17, that says that he "needs" the internet to talk to his friends. "Need"? I don't think so... but ok. This young man's father actually said that he has a better chance of getting his sons attention by emailing him because he knows that he'll see it. Ok, here I have a problem. Now, I know that I spend a lot of time on my computer, I know this, but if the only way that I feel that I can get my child's attention is by EMAILING them and we are in the same damn house, then there is a problem in my house that needs to be addressed. Now, don't get me wrong, I have been guilty of this on several occasions. I have sent a text message through yahoo messenger to someone that is right downstairs. I have even had conversations through messenger services with someone that is in the same house as I am. That is all out of sheer laziness, not because I feel like that is the only way that I will get their attention.
This same young man said something that absolutely disgusted me. He said that he NEVER READ ... that he goes online to a site that is similar to the Cliff Notes of my day, and gets everything he needs to know about the reading assignments that he has been given in a matter of minutes. He goes on to say that he just doesn't have the time to read ... "If there were 27 hours in a day, I'd read Hamlet, but there's only 24". This is a statement coming from the same person that said that hf he disconnected from the internet he would just sit in his chair for hours and do nothing. Ok, this is the point where his parents need to disconnect the damn internet and make his ass read a book!
In my time (not that I am that old or anything) they were accusing parents of letting television raise their children. We have entered into a whole new realm of problems now ... the internet, and all of the sick, disgusting perverts who are out there are the ones that are raising our kids now! There are parents out there that don't even know how to work the computer, much less check behind their children to see what they are doing ... I just don't get that!!
In this world of myspace, facebook, and all of the other social networking websites that are out there, as a parent you have to know how and when to find out what your children are doing. I have a 15 year old daughter. I have absolutely NO problem with checking emails, myspace accounts, tagged accounts, messenger conversations, or whatever else I have to check. This is a little off the subject, but I also do room checks, purse checks, bookbag checks, pop up visits at school, and if I could get away with it, I would check in on your phone conversations every now and then. I refuse to be the parent that looks back at the last 4 or 5 years of my child's life and see all of the things that were going on behind my back after it was too late. No, I am going to catch it before it happens and nip it in the bud!
We have got to talk to our children about internet responsibility. Do our daughters recognize the image they are putting out there of themselves when they post pictures on their myspace pages that have them shooting a bird and the caption reads "i jus don't giv a fukk"? Do they know that they are attracting predators and other perverts by staging these pictures in these provocative poses that make them appear to be years older and more experienced and mature than they really are? Do they know how little information someone needs to know about you to be able to find your exact location along with door to door directions to that location? All thanks to the internet.
Being a parent in this century is so much different, and probably more difficult than it was for our parents and their parents. All my mother had to make me remember was not to talk to strangers, to check my halloween candy before I started eating it, and not to take any Mickey Mouse stickers from anyone I didn't know (for fear that it was laced with acid). Now I have to talk to my daughter about the reputation that she is setting up for herself across millions of airwaves, how to know if someone is a predator, how to protect her identity along with my personal information from hackers, along with the same basic lessons that my mother had to teach me. Except for the Mickey Mouse stickers ... I have to warn her about Meth instead.
And so, as promised, I watched the PBS "Frontline" special, "Growing Up Online". I have to admit that I spent pretty much the entire program with my mouth agape. I could not believe some of the things that I heard and saw ... and so I will start at the beginning. Hopefully you had a chance to see it also, if not I strongly suggest that you do, especially if you have children!
The first thing that I heard that scared me was a young man, aged 16-17, that says that he "needs" the internet to talk to his friends. "Need"? I don't think so... but ok. This young man's father actually said that he has a better chance of getting his sons attention by emailing him because he knows that he'll see it. Ok, here I have a problem. Now, I know that I spend a lot of time on my computer, I know this, but if the only way that I feel that I can get my child's attention is by EMAILING them and we are in the same damn house, then there is a problem in my house that needs to be addressed. Now, don't get me wrong, I have been guilty of this on several occasions. I have sent a text message through yahoo messenger to someone that is right downstairs. I have even had conversations through messenger services with someone that is in the same house as I am. That is all out of sheer laziness, not because I feel like that is the only way that I will get their attention.
This same young man said something that absolutely disgusted me. He said that he NEVER READ ... that he goes online to a site that is similar to the Cliff Notes of my day, and gets everything he needs to know about the reading assignments that he has been given in a matter of minutes. He goes on to say that he just doesn't have the time to read ... "If there were 27 hours in a day, I'd read Hamlet, but there's only 24". This is a statement coming from the same person that said that hf he disconnected from the internet he would just sit in his chair for hours and do nothing. Ok, this is the point where his parents need to disconnect the damn internet and make his ass read a book!
In my time (not that I am that old or anything) they were accusing parents of letting television raise their children. We have entered into a whole new realm of problems now ... the internet, and all of the sick, disgusting perverts who are out there are the ones that are raising our kids now! There are parents out there that don't even know how to work the computer, much less check behind their children to see what they are doing ... I just don't get that!!
In this world of myspace, facebook, and all of the other social networking websites that are out there, as a parent you have to know how and when to find out what your children are doing. I have a 15 year old daughter. I have absolutely NO problem with checking emails, myspace accounts, tagged accounts, messenger conversations, or whatever else I have to check. This is a little off the subject, but I also do room checks, purse checks, bookbag checks, pop up visits at school, and if I could get away with it, I would check in on your phone conversations every now and then. I refuse to be the parent that looks back at the last 4 or 5 years of my child's life and see all of the things that were going on behind my back after it was too late. No, I am going to catch it before it happens and nip it in the bud!
We have got to talk to our children about internet responsibility. Do our daughters recognize the image they are putting out there of themselves when they post pictures on their myspace pages that have them shooting a bird and the caption reads "i jus don't giv a fukk"? Do they know that they are attracting predators and other perverts by staging these pictures in these provocative poses that make them appear to be years older and more experienced and mature than they really are? Do they know how little information someone needs to know about you to be able to find your exact location along with door to door directions to that location? All thanks to the internet.
Being a parent in this century is so much different, and probably more difficult than it was for our parents and their parents. All my mother had to make me remember was not to talk to strangers, to check my halloween candy before I started eating it, and not to take any Mickey Mouse stickers from anyone I didn't know (for fear that it was laced with acid). Now I have to talk to my daughter about the reputation that she is setting up for herself across millions of airwaves, how to know if someone is a predator, how to protect her identity along with my personal information from hackers, along with the same basic lessons that my mother had to teach me. Except for the Mickey Mouse stickers ... I have to warn her about Meth instead.
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