Internet Dangers!

Kids nowadays have unlimited access to the internet almost anywhere they go, at home and school with the computers and anywhere else with cell phones. At any age, the possibilities of web dangers are present and easy to purposely find, or stumble upon accidentally. There are so many methods for predators, sexual or otherwise, to prey on kids online in chat rooms, instant messaging or emailing. There are multiple concerns here, the fact that some children will go and meet these people face to face, some won’t tell their parents the type of things they do on the internet, and there’s always the risk of unknowingly giving away too much personal information. This brings me to another concern for many children, so often websites will coerce you to give tons of personal information to sign up for a game, or an account, or contest; this can easily lead to invasion of privacy.

Children searching sites for games or chat rooms can also easily become exposed to pornography sites. Younger children may not have the capability to process the information yet, but it will be stored and remembered later. These types of sites can also display violence and skew a person’s future beliefs of intimacy. The internet also provides an excellent ground for bullying anonymously. Online bullying is becoming more and more common which is really unfortunate because of the difficulty in both finding it and discovering who is behind it. On a larger scale, the internet supplies many, many hate sites along with instructional sites providing methods to get revenge on those listed on hate sites (Ex: the bomb recipe sites used by the shooters at Columbine). 

The internet can also be addictive both in terms of overuse, and for online gambling. The content is not always accurate or reliable, there’s constant exposure to online marketing, and users have to be cautious of spam and viruses. While the internet provides many beneficial resources, children need to be taught how to safely use it. I don’t think constant monitoring is necessary because exploration and manipulation can be educational, but they need to know what to avoid for safety purposes.

I decided to take a closer look at “Authenticity of Information on the Web” and examine some concerning and related aspects in this Inspiration chart.