Your kids are online. And more than likely, you probably aren't aware of what they are doing online. You're not up to speed on MySpace (frankly, something that I just don't get but, I do have a page on MySpace), Instant messaging (which can be a great substitute for high cell phone or long distance bills), file-sharing, or anything else that is "hip" with the kids these days. (Yes, I just used the term "hip". Be glad it wasn't "rad" or "awesome".)
It's ok for your kids to be online. Don't think that by preventing them access to the internet that you are going to protect them from the evil that lurks in the dark places frequented by strange, middle-age men that never see the light of day and play online role-playing games for 30 or 40 hours straight. Don't think that by blocking access to the internet that you kids are going to be just the most wonderful little children and stay away from the evil Internet even when they are not at home.
Don't be that naive. Your kids can access the Internet from almost anywhere, some of them even on their cell phones. When they go over to a friend's house, you can bet that at some point they are going to be sitting down in front of the screen watching the lastest batch of stupid human tricks that someone has posted on YouTube or Google Video. They'll be on MySpace, chatting with someone about who is doing what at school this week and where they are going on vacation for spring break and how many kegs of beer are going to be at Johnny's party on Friday night while his parents are out of town. I'm trying not to make a blanket statement about everyone's kids, I'm sure that yours are not the type that will get together and rip and run through the streets, causing massive amounts of mayhem and all sorts of social disturbances. They don't have to any more. They have the internet.
The Internet, once a place conceived of by scientists and governments to connect their various organizations together to enable the sharing of information quickly has become something altogether different. But the Internet is what you and your children make of it.
The Internet can be a repository of information greater than any encyclopedia that has ever been or will ever be published. Not only can you read about historic places on the Internet, you can visit them with the power of online videos and web sites based in foreign lands that offer a wealth of information that makes the experience that much more fulfilling. Your kids have access to information that previously would have taken them hours to find in a library full of books. Thanks to search engines like Google, directories like Yahoo!, the world is at your children's fingertips. Unfortunately, your children are also at the world's fingertips.
Just beyond that shelter of your home and your computer lies a gateway to a world filled with some pretty disturbed individuals. And they have taked this wonderful tool and have perverted it for their own selfish, twisted desires.
And I'm not just talking about the child molesters that are trying to steal your kids away from you. There's also the spammers that are out there trying to get control of your computer and use it as a launching pad to send out more spam to others, and then take over their systems as well. People who won't take their intellect and use it to make an honest living are using their brains to figure out how to take your hard-earned cash and put it in their pockets.
These are only a few of the dangers that lie in wait for your children as they are surfing the web and chatting it up with their friends online. The language of instant messages befuddles most adults and they have no idea what their kids are discussing while online.
I'm not writing all of this to freak you out. My job here is to make computers easier to understand and use. That means all areas of computers, not just how to burn a CD or DVD or use that cool new photo editing program.
Knowing how to keep your kids safe online is a responsibility that most parents have to tackle in our society. More and more households have computers in their homes, and most that have a computer have some type of internet access. Your kids will be online, whether they are online at home with you watching or not. You must take an aggressive stance in keeping your kids safe while they are on the computer.
One of those first steps to keep your kids safe is to move that computer into the family room or living room. Setup that PC in a public place in your house. I'm of the opinion that every one is entitled to a little privacy in their lives, even kids. They have their own rooms and should be allowed some level of privacy in that room. Your computer, though... that can be a different story.
It's highly unlikely that a stranger is going to walk into your kids' room and try to tempt them into coming along to a secluded encounter. Hopefully if they tried, you would tackle them before they got there. Online, this happens everyday.
Be aware of what your kids are doing on the computer. You could be saving their lives, and maybe yours, too. More on keeping your kids safe online to come...
