While reading this weeks assignments, I reflected upon my digital autobiography that I wrote for this class. I was somewhat one of the ignorant parents that our text discussed. With Internet access in so many homes and the potential dangers of exposing innocent victims to negative outside forces, it is imperative that parents have parental controls on their computers along with adult supervision.
The thought of sink or swim kept coming to my mind while reflecting on this weeks reading. Would you throw your child out into the "Big Blue Sea" without teaching him/her to swim with all the dangerous predators just waiting for your child to go down underneath the surface? NBC- Dateline reports that there are 50,000 predators online at any given moment and over 11 million teens with daily Internet use, ( webcourse-Moral Panic about Girls online). The Internet can be much like the sea scenario. We as parents must train our children of the potential dangers of the Internet and make sure that they have programs that don't allow unwanted images displayed on the computer. It is the parental responsibility to ensure the safety of their children in both the real and the virtual world. Victims, Villains, and Vixens discusses how the absence of parental authority and ignorance can add to the dangers of exposure. There is a false sense of security and parents need to be educated in the dangers of the Internet in order to protect their children.
In addition, the media plays a huge role in the expectations of our society and what the norm accepts. The news that we are exposed to falls into this media as well. This media is guilty of framing what details they want to display to the public. This is achieved through a manipulation of words and facts in order to tell the story they choose to make headlines. Many times this is achieved by leaving out the facts of the story influencing the audience. For example a 13 year old girl met a stranger online and was murdered by her stranger. The New York Times titled the article "Slain girl used Internet to Seek Sex" portraying her as a type of prostitute. She was only 13 years old. How can our society even get away with those type of headlines, that should be a crime in itself!
According to "Moral Panic about Girls Online", since 1994 the percentage of single offender crimes against girls where the offender is an adult/stranger has declined- this fact is concurrent with the rise of the Internet.This came as a surprise to me. I guess I became a victim of the news media, thinking the opposite. This article goes on to say that kids are still at greater risks for abuse, through family members and friends rather than strangers as well as being abducted at public places. I questioned this as to the possibility that many potential predators may not have access to the Internet or maybe they are not patient enough to establish a relationship with their victim. Although there are many well established predators that would not fall into this concept.
A Girl's Life Online was a powerful autobiography of a girls experience as a victim of an online predator. Her story, should be read by all young girls ( boys as well). The lack of support from her family during this ordeal was one that I found difficult to comprehend. I can't imagine having a child go through this type of emotional turmoil without love and support she experienced. It almost seemed that her mother made the decision to have a career over her job as a parent. Although Katie was involved in school activities she didn't have much of a home life often feeling alone and isolated, as a result she filled the emotional void online, in a chat room with a stranger portraying himself as a young man but in reality he was a man in his 40's. I thought it strange how upon meeting this man Katie focused on his odd shoes. Although she had to go through such emotional distress it was because of her mothers' rescue in the Hotel that the crime wasn't worse. It's because of this incident and the crime committed, that many of the Internet laws are present today.
I think what we should take away from this weeks reading, that it is the parental responsibility to protect and educate our kids of the dangers on the Internet. The concept is very similar to that of pushing a child off the boat when they are not trained to swim. Even though Internet crimes have declined, it's still far from being a safe place. Kids need to be monitored and parental controls should be placed on their computer.
I enjoyed your post and the passion I could feel that came from within concerning the issue. I like that you touched, ever so briefly, on the fact that young boys should also be reading texts like this. I think that while young girls might encounter these types of issues more often, that young boys should not be neglected in learning about dangers such as these or resources they can go to for help.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, thanks for getting me thinking :D
I certainly agree with you that all young adults that have internet access need to be properly trained with the dangers that are out there. They need to have been shown by their parents or schools should have classes in case parents don't cover all the bases. I believe that there are a lot more internet crimes that are out there than are reported. I am glad that this class gave you some ideas on what is out there which you can share with your children. You are right, we wouldn't throw our kids to the sea, we would teach them to swim. That is exactly what we need to do when it comes to internet safety. Great Post!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about parents having responsibilities to teach children about the dangers of the net. But as the adults in the situation, we need to make sure we are passing along true information, and not creating a hysteria for the kids, or creating a false perception of the internet. It's really difficult in this day and age, due to the power of the media, but being able to deliberate what's real from what's fake is exactly what we need to be teaching our kids.
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