Internet Safety- Exaggerated or Underrated?

With every new technology comes a new fear. Fears that kids online are exposed to harassment, bullying, and threats, and that all this will affect kids and teens, maybe not to the extent of Megan Meier, who committed suicide supposedly after a MySpace friend told her the world would be a better place with out her. How much credit do we give to this fear?

As much as we give for dealing with those who are unstable enough to do themselves harm, which in no way can be given even an iota of culpability to a medium.

Propaganda to turn the internet into a threat and increase control over your freedom is nothing new. Child predators being number one. Exposure to information being number two, and oh how some fear freedom and information.

You cannot blame tools but those who use abuse them. It is up to you to defend yourself and loved ones, not to control the freedoms of others due to fear of "potential" dangers.

I think alot of people dismiss this fear.. I know i do, i met up with someone online a few weeks ago and my friends thought i was insane.. oo it may be a looney rapist, yeah it may have been, but it wasnt, he's a good friend of mine now, another risk taken, but see i personally disregarded the internet safety fear. I believe the reason I did this was because I thought ah it only happens to stupid kids, which is probably not true at all, and you may think i was the stupid kid to meet someone in the first place. yeah, whatever. People dont take much notice of it because i dont think people honestly feel a threat from the internet. Its within their homes, where they feel safe, I think people feel a level of control because they think they can hide their true identities, which may not always be the case.

I dont think it is exagerated, there are serious risks involved with using the internet, from how much of your details you give out to the ease underage members may face when purchasing certain products. I guess I cannot talk for the entire internet using world but even though I believe there are risks involved, it does not stop me from using the internet, but I take precautionary measures such as erm.. not spreading teh to entire world the road I live on.

Everything comes with risks, now its up to you to look after yourself and your children if they use it. Every car has the possibility of crashing but you dont stop using the car, you wear a goddamn seatbeat and be careful. I think there should be greater policing on the internet to look after children and young people but without pervading the privacy of adults, again its difficult because young people can get around that.. like I did at fourteen. Its too easy to lie on the internet, far too easy, but I personally cannot think of a way to control that. Can anybody else?

Threats and bullying from online.. well i guess it just shows us that no matter what children will be pricks. If you put a group of kids in a room, something will arise, from someone taking someone elses pencil to serious bullying, thats all these internet chatrooms and face books are.. puting kids in a room without anybody watching them. There is no way to control this unless we change children or we constantly sit over and watch them. Ive been bullied on the internet.. racial bullying but I gues it never affected me the way it affects others. I believe young people who already feel isolated and insecure may be more likely to be bullied online and will be greatly affected by it, so whether it was online or in the school envioroment, I believe the same thing would have happened. If that kid killed herself because of what was said to her, do you think that is the worst possible thing that could be said?
The world would be a better place without her.. Yesterday somebody told me to just kill myself, i mean i told them to fuck off.. why did I do this? And why did she do that?
I think it was pretty soft compared to what ive said or what others have said to me.. she would have already been unstable in some way, maybe already made to feel like some kind of burden or out of place.. so what Im saying is.. its not the internet, its our society and the way children treat each other that is the problem, and they way they have been raised by their parents, by the media every other social factor that we cannot seem to put our finger on and control.. and do we even want to?

Is it right to control children, to take away their freedom and privacy? For the greater good? Are they too young and stupid to be given the freedom to do what they want.. the 'obvious' socially acceptable answer is yes.

I would have to agree that the internet itself (being an inanimate and non-living object) certainly can't be blamed for the users who abuse the privilege it provides. But the myspace "friend" was a fake profile made by the mother of one of megan's friends. So here's my question: When a 40 yr. old woman creates a fake profile claiming to be a 15 yr. old boy for the sole and express purpose of harassing and tormenting a 14 yr. old girl, what has society become? It can't be the internets fault but does anyone find things like this frustrating? I can't imagine doing something like that and I'm only 23; this was a 40 yr. old woman; people need to grow up and then maybe the internet wouldn't be the kind of place its becoming.

Such things as tv and now the internet have only begun to expose the reality of human behavior.

Before things were able to be kept "in the family". Quiet secrets turning people's mind's inside out.

And don't kid yourself, these behaviors are nothing new, just our exposure to them is.

I just wanted to throw out there that my earlier response was not inclusive to the differences of the need for parents to monitor their children. I spoke primarily of the freedom of adults and the internet itself.

Again, these monitorings need to be conducted by parents and not agencies. Society is in need of a strong restructuring to properly allow this though. Like parents able to dedicate the true time necessary to parenting.

"Again, these monitorings need to be conducted by parents and not agencies. Society is in need of a strong restructuring to properly allow this though. Like parents able to dedicate the true time necessary to parenting"

At the moment it is left up to parents and as we can see they arent doing a very good job because they dont take the internet safety risk seriously. I think the government needs to create agencies and institutions to regulate the internet, not parents, because if left up to them.. what pushes them to do anything but a parental worry that doesnt seem to be pushing anybody at the moment. And what about those children/ young people whos parents just dont care.. or dont have much understanding of the internet.. is this where recontructing society comes into the equation?

If we need to reconstruct society first.. well what about today and protecting and looking after people now.. reconstructing society takes a long time. How do we work around that? I personally cant even think of a way to control it without becoming too controlling and pervasive.

I was thinking of ways..

- Closing down all internet chatrooms/social networking... which is really quite stupid.

-Making sure companies that sell products such as kniives are more careful as to who is on the receiving end..

-Spreading social awareness ect.

-Supervising online conversations and interactions between children.. this would be a difficult one but perhaps very beneficial.


What do you think? Tell me if you see flaws in my logic.

The source of this problem isn't found in the availability of knives or the ability to communicate anonymously in a huge communication medium. The problem is that there are people (children included) who want to harm other people through these mediums. Everyone's gonna have a different reason for why this is but I think it's because families (as a whole) aren't doing their job. A strong family is loving to one another and built on a foundation of trust. I know that in my family and a lot of the families I've seen that these things aren't there. Not to say there aren't any families like this, there are. It's just that right now they're the minority.

This is only speculation but I think that tragedies like columbine and virginia tech are rooted in a skewed sense of human value. I think that those kids came from families where there wasn't much love shown and consequently the kid valued himself less and less and in turn devalued the rest of the human race, making the possibility for such a disaster to happen.

Does the internet hold dangers for children?
Certainly, so does a public park. Although certainly a tragedy, the young person in the OP would have found an excuse to suicide elsewhere.

Monitor your children's internet use, problem solved.

Can your personal information be stolen online?
Certainly.Plenty of scams out there.

Solution? Don't answer emails from Nigeria, don't buy things over the internet using your bank account, don;t give out your SSI over the internet.

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At the moment it is left up to parents and as we can see they arent doing a very good job because they dont take the internet safety risk seriously.

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The internet risk isn't as much of an issue as the stupidity of the user, child or adult.

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I believe the reason I did this was because I thought ah it only happens to stupid kids, which is probably not true at all, and you may think i was the stupid kid to meet someone in the first place. yeah, whatever.

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Meeting someone in person from online isn't stupid, how you do it may very well be, like alone.

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I think the government needs to create agencies and institutions to regulate the internet

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I think you have a limited understanding of freedom, personal responsibility, and too much trust in the government.

The internet is already regulated, as criminal acts committed on the internet or in person are covered by laws.

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what pushes them to do anything but a parental worry that doesnt seem to be pushing anybody at the moment.

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What exactly are you thinking people are in need of being pushed to do?

Make the bad world go away?

If some form of this is the case, then you seriously need to redirect your concerns and efforts.

You need to address the source, not the symptom.

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And what about those children/ young people whos parents just dont care..

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That's a damn good question. Have you ever stopped to wonder about why they might nott care, or if that is really is the case? Did they used to care? Did something change?

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is this where recontructing society comes into the equation?

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I'm glad you're listening. Yes. Perhaps, even undo certain past changes.

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If we need to reconstruct society first.. well what about today and protecting and looking after people now..

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Another good question. What indeed are YOU doing about it? Besides asking the government to do it for you.

Are you running into all kinds of kids in danger? Have you addressed it with your parents, their parents, your schools and other local groups? Are you informing these uninformed people?

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I personally cant even think of a way to control it without becoming too controlling and pervasive

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More controlling and pervasive, what, like parenting? You're simply asking the government to parent. That is not a solution, that IS the problem.

Did you know that WE are supposed to be the government?

Here's another BS issue...

Teach everyone, everything, at all ages. Yes this means sex ed to children, and common sense to the disadvantaged. Once we get over the pasts' backward fears of sex and education and what's appropriate, we can move on. These are the hypcritical fears that are an anchor that needs to be removed and society can then move forward. The more you impede and "protect" the more you stick your head in the sand, and those actions are what's stopping the enlightenment and the progress of evolution of the mind. Stop pretending your offended and stop seeking unearned compensation for you weak constitution of a being. Grow up already.

Mahalo RDM