Is Our Internet Safety Obsession Bad for Children?
If found this article very interesting. The author looks at the way our society hypes up Internet safety and the wrong ways we are going about trying to ensure our kids are safe online. For many reasons, I agree with him. He is not saying fears are overblown, more so he is saying that rather than harping on specific issues we should do this more encompassing and treat Internet safety as we would real life safety – with lots of small lessons constantly littered throughout life.
PC Pandora monitoring software is a sure-fire way to know that your kids are being safe online. It’s the best way to keep them safe – by removing all doubt and not having to wonder if they are safe, you can just know it.
February 20, 2012
Our Internet Safety Obsession Is Bad for Children
By Daniel Donahoo, Wired.comImage by Ivan Walsh used under Creative Commons License
A couple of weeks back it was Safer Internet Day. A whole global day dedicated predominately to keeping children safe online. A big investment, across the globe of time, money, and resources. But to what end?
In the week just past the FTC came out with a series of statements expressing concern over children’s privacy from app developers who are collecting their data. This has resulted in a swift response from children’s app collective Moms with Apps who have developed a privacy disclosure program to share with parents about all the things their members’ apps don’t do in relation to privacy.
And, after my article on the curation of children’s content I have had many emails from people who are sharing with me their tools for curating children’s content, which are all about keeping children safe.
Our obsession with online safety for children is excessive. It is driven by group-think and fear, generated by media and interested parties who often ignore any rigorous evidence-based approach to the issues, or even bother to explore a simple risk analysis. Back in 2007 I wrote a book called Idolising Children, wherein I argued that we have an unhealthy obsession with children and youth culture. An obsession that sees adults trying to preserve an idea of childhood and youth that doesn’t actually exist while simultaneous trying to act out their own youthful fantasies and cling to idealized concepts of youth. It is all about lotions, potions and younger looking skin. It is about what we as adults want childhood to be – innocent and stress free. Rather than recognizing it for what it is – the process of learning, of taking risks and making mistakes on the way to becoming a capable and confident adult. Read more ›