I was sitting, the other day, reading an article on online vulnerability. The article reproduced the findings of the 2001 National Youth Survey, conducted by the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children and was responsible for making recommendations on this. One of the comments made was that, ‘Many young people are being subjected to, dangerous and inappropriate experiences on and through the internet. The offences and offenders are so diverse and their anonymity is crippling’ (Youth Internet Safety Search 2001, 1).
The issue of protecting children from the potential hazards on the internet has been well documented (Nair 2006, 114). Nearly 12,000 cases of online child abuse were reported in September 2002 alone. Cases originated in the areas of child pornography (9015 incidents), child prostitution (277 incidents), child sex tourism (188 incidents), child sexual molestation (690 incidents) and online enticement of children for sexual acts (1533 incidents)’ (USF Institute for Children 2002, 4). And even though i am no child physiologist, i can establish that having an open, geographically boundless environment is no good thing in this case.
It is this that raises one of the mains criticisms of the online, in comparison with the offline environment. ‘The internet has allowed young people to become a naive and willing audience to behaviours and ideas online, that would not have been condoned in an offline environment’ (USF Institute for Children 2002, 12). Children and young people are becoming less and less scrutinising of those they interact with online, and parents are being pushed further out of the loop. ‘Many teens reported that their parents knew they had an Internet social networking site but only a small percentage of teens reported that their parents had actually seen their site’ (Peirce 2006, 1). It could be put down to a decrease in parental concern for their children, but i believe there is more to it than that.
Security and access passes, like usernames, passwords and key locks are all restricting the control parents can have over their children online. You may suggest that each person under the age of 18 has to have parental controls and access in place, but anonymity isn’t reserve for the predators, the prey has it too. After all how hard is it to click 18 instead of 16 when setting up an account?
So this is where we find ourselves. We have created an environment that supports creation, development and removes the boundaries of physicality (Bruns 2008, week 1), while at the same time opens up a new door for access to our nations’ youth. Predators are given a front row seat to anything and anyone, its like making a house out of glass and not expecting others to look in.If you are interested in stories like this, feel free to follow this link to the related article, The Internet: A masquerade ball where everyone is invited.
Blessed Blogging
Cheers gemini21
1 comment:
What an interesting blog! You make a valid point, we are blessed with an abundance of new opportunities that are internet enabled, like the ability to cooperate and collaborate with people that are geographically dispersed, but is it enabling a bigger and rather alarming problem? I think the answer is, inevitably, yes. It is opening an environment that acts as (excuse the cliché) a playground for pedophiles. Children are vulnerable within the online world, especially as monitoring and preventing such problems is virtually impossible. This is why it is essential that parents police their children’s internet usage. Safekids.com (see: http://www.safekids.com/kidsrules.htm) lists ten rules that I believe parents should present to and go through with their children, so that all parties are aware of what constitutes safe online practice. They are as simple as ensuring that children tell their parents immediately if something online makes them feel uncomfortable, or not giving out personal details. Using these simple rules will have a vast impact, as it will help protect the safety of children online and consequently put parent’s minds at rest. However, as in the real world, safety is never guaranteed and violators will always find new ways of preying on the vulnerable, so parental vigilance is key.
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