The October 25, 2008 edition of the Church News contained a great article that warns parents of the risks of allowing children to navigate the Internet alone.
Online games today have real-life imagery, sound, and graphics, and allow youth to play with unknown people half way around the world. Parents should be aware of their children’s gaming practices to ensure they are healthy and not harmful.
Jill Manning, author of the book What’s the Big Deal about Pornography: A Guide for the Internet Generation, warns that Internet pornography is readily accessible and is much different from a photograph on the page of a magazine. With the click of the mouse, children can freely access a “seemingly infinite array of sexually explicit images that often incorporate sound, movement and are more explicit than pornography from past eras.”
Sister Manning warns that children and teens should not be left to have private interactions in the virtual world alone. Chat rooms often “lead participants into topics and discussions that they would not have with people in real life. Sex talk, racist slurs, homophobic statements and sexist and hateful language are commonly found in chat rooms.” In a chat room, you can’t tell the sexual predators, criminals, and disrespectful people from the wholesome, clean-cut people. Remember that people can represent themselves any way they choose online, making it impossible to really know who someone is. Never share personal information online. It is better to meet people in person, then use technology to nurture those friendships.
Parents should help young people understand the consequences of online choices. Although youth often feel anonymous online, they need to know that everything they do online gets saved somewhere.
It is critical to teach our children how to use technology in safe and beneficial ways. In the beginning, you may need to use monitoring software so you can see the sites your children visited and get copies of the e-mails they send. Children need a chance to practice using technology and get feedback from their parents.
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