Children use the internet for many purposes, including doing research for school papers and- projects, staying in touch with friends through e-mail and playing games with other children all over the world. There are endless entertaining possibilities online for kids looking for a way to spend their time and, while many of these options are safe, productive ways to spend time, others are not only not suitable for kids, they are also dangerous. But do children under the age of 12 really use the internet for doing research on papers?
In Malaysia, there are no research requirements for children under the age of 12 because it is not included in their syllabus. All of their school work is provided by their respective teachers by the way. On the other hand, the internet these days is somewhat of a double-edged sword as it provides copious amounts of accumulated knowledge at the click of the mouse, but is also a hub for the negative side that is pornography, violence, racism, hate groups and many more.
How do you expect a child under the age of 12 to understand between right or wrong? In our opinion, putting ourselves in the role as parents; we believe that parents should not allow their children to access the internet without adult supervision. We believe to let them use the internet unsupervised is like letting them dig their own grave. This is because the internet is filled with many porn sites, chat rooms, and sites that include usage of vulgar languages.
Children love to use the internet to chat with their friends or make new friends and there are many chat rooms available to assist children in keeping in touch with or meeting other children. However, the “kids” that children are chatting with may not be children at all. They could be online sexual predators waiting for a child willing to give them personal information. Parents should protect their children from exploitation, especially in chat rooms. Children should treat people online as they would any other stranger. They should use their screen name only, and never give out any personal information. If parents have any concern that their children have been contacted by a pedophile, they should report it to their state police immediately.
As a solution to this issue, our suggestion is to place the pc in a public area in the house and not in a private area like their room. This will be easier for the parents to check on their children and what web sites they are visiting. Other than that, we believe that parents should teach their children about the dangers in the world and how to keep safe from them. Prevention is better than cure.
Alternatively, there are many filtering software that parents can use to control what their children are searching when the parents are not around. But, as we are in the tech savvy era; parents should be aware that their children can outsmart the filter software. This is why we stick to our stance and strongly disagree that parents should allow children under the age of 12 to go on the internet without adult supervision.
( 548 words )
0 comments:
Post a Comment