Monitoring Kids Online

Essay #1

Internet is one of the greatest things invented by human.

However, debates from the specialists in the internet field around the world

about the benefits of internet access especially to those children who

are using it every day.

Some said that there are more negative effects of it on children than

positive. The negative effects of internet access are usually caused by

the parents who are not supervising their children in using the

internet.

In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal this week about

parents and the issue of monitoring their kids online. The authour have

made some clear observations and an eye-opener piece about the

nightmare of parenting in the digital age. This problem was the potential

for start-ups and established companies to launch new tools to track

where and what children do online and who do they meet. Because

children are always ‘online’ using their smartphones, the technology can

allow parents to track their physical location and what they are doing.

As the article states “The average American family uses five Internet-enabled devices at

home, including smartphones” a recent survey by Cox Communications

and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children found, while

only one in five parents uses parental controls on those devices. The

scattering of mobile devices and tablets between kids has made a huge

market for apps that attract the worrying parents. On the other hand,

There are the apps that attracts the very young kids and made menace

on them. like skout, an app designed to flirt, had led to three sexual

assault cases involving children across the country. Even on Facebook,

studies have repeatedly shown, there are plenty of children younger

than 13, the minimum age for members, and many of them join with help

and supervision from their parents. Surveys, including by the Pew

Research Center, have found that two-thirds of parents check their

children’s digital footprints and nearly 40 percent follow them on

Facebook and Twitter. But the Pew study suggests that this monitoring is

also likely to lead to arguments between parent and child.

Some families are dealing with this threat using softwares like net nanny.

I observed how the author was asking important questions like: whether

maintaining safe digital monitoring was the best way to protect children,

or should parents trust them to share even if they were feeling unsafe

about anything online, and what about kids, would they accept this

monitoring and being watched? do parents need to follow her kids

steps? The critical debatable questions were being answered by these

different parents with different opinions about the matter.

Susan Boyce thinks Children need parental and community

guidance on what’s right and wrong, not anxious parents monitoring

their movements and communications. She found it is best to trust that

the lessons of respect for others, and being a good neighbor and being held accountable for your own actions will extend into their electronic

world and guide their behavior. She thinks that trust and open

communication are far more important greater tools than electronic

spying.

Bruce Weinstein thinks that monitoring a child’s Internet use

without telling him or her about it would make kids lose their trust

towards their parents. She sates that the ethical smart thing parents should do is to keep an eye on their sons and daughters and to inform them that one need not, and should not, sacrifice one valuable objective to obtain another thing; sacrificing by giving away private info and being exposed.

Matt Levinson asked an important question, it was:

“how to work with children effectively to teach them self-advocacy and

self-regulation online?” Matt answer was that the key test for parents is

what the child does out of view of the parent or guardian. And that if

parents got to be the victim to what appears to be the major online

solution tool to protect children from the seduction of social media,

children will never have the chance to learn valuable coping strategies

and lessons for greater independence.

In the end, Parents will have to deal with monitoring internet

usage and the job is not getting easier. The advice and knowledge of

adults can help children stay away from the threats and dangers in this

scary online world. Even if they feel uneasy about it, they have to

exercise control in order to keep their kids in safe.