When It Comes To The Internet, Father Doesn't Know Best

from the no-clue,-technically-speaking dept

Controversies over students’ use of technology in school often sound like Footloose sequels: adults in denial of reality and banning the alleged evil acts. Now we can add just plain clueless to the mix. A panel of techno-savvy teens, apparently from the Seattle area and speaking on a conference panel, report a serious lack of Internet education from their parents and at their schools. The panelists had no help learning and navigating the pitfalls of the online world — protecting their privacy, avoiding identity theft, and so on — which they say many of their peers fail to do. The knowledge gap is like the approach to sex ed 40 years ago, ie, nonexistent and probably results in lots of unnecessary damage. The difference today: parents and teachers have little experience with the activity in question. Kids aren’t taught about it because adults don’t know much about it themselves. Sounds like everyone could use some tech education.


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Comments on “When It Comes To The Internet, Father Doesn't Know Best”

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3 Comments
dorpus says:

Funny thing though

I just read an article last night in which South Korean kids admitted that the internet is a bad influence upon themselves — it distracts them from schoolwork, it makes them more antisocial, they spend too much time on porn sites. The internet has spawned a national syndicate of teenage gangs where hundreds of kids gang up on someone and beat the shit out of them.

If the USA wants to “catch up” as Mike sees it, maybe we should catch up on accepting moral responsibility for net conduct too — none of this “libertarian” adolescence.

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