The Internet is fantastic. We use it for education, research, posting,
sharing, social connection and so many other things. However, the Internet is also scary. There are many facets of the Internet that
are appropriate and inappropriate for all different ages. This fact makes us ask ourselves an important
question: How do we safeguard our
children against the inappropriate and attention grabbing sites?
I think
it’s safe to say that we all realize that students need to use the Internet to
enhance their education. It is used in
schools and at the homes of the students.
So how do we protect our children from stumbling onto, or purposefully
accessing inappropriate sites such as porn?
The general consensus is that porn is not suitable for children. This is demonstrated by the fact that it is
illegal for anyone under the age of 18.
Despite knowing this, we cannot monitor our children 24/7 online. Because of this, there is software that
blocks inappropriate sites from being accessed.
There are a few issues with using
this software though. One such issue is
that this software blocks a general group of websites which could limit
children from accessing sites that they need to be able to access to do
homework (Shulevitz, 2016). The software
could “over-filter” which would block a child’s access to an appropriate site
or “under-filter” which would not block access to inappropriate sites (Melgosa
and Scott, 2013). This is a major
problem that we face while trying to protect our children from accessing sexually
explicit material. The problem of
children seeing this material is not only that it is illegal for them to see,
but also that it can promote poor body image and a skewed view of “normal”
sexual activity (Shulevitz, 2016).
Access to porn by children also increases their risk of becoming
vulnerable to sexual predators and messages spreading hate (Thornburgh and Lin,
2004).
Blocking software is not the only
possible way to filter what sites children have access to on the Internet. Congress has passed two bills over the past
twenty years limiting the access to porn by children; however, these bills have
been invalidated by the Supreme Court citing infringement on adults’ First
Amendment rights (Shulevitz, 2016). This
is the problem with governmental regulation of issues such as these. Censorship of these sites violates the rights
of adults, yet leaves children vulnerable to inappropriate material. This conundrum is very hard to
reconcile. This is precisely the reason
why the government has not instituted any type of censorship on these harmful Internet
sites.
It is the view of many, that schools
need to block the inappropriate sites with the best tools they have available
to them, while teaching students about the possible harm of accessing these sites
(Melgosa and Scott, 2013). Others
believe that it is the government’s responsibility to censor the Internet. There are problems and merits to both of
these approaches. Do you believe that
children should not be allowed to access this material? What do you believe would be the most
effective way to control the sites that children have access to? Do you believe schools should use these tools
to block certain sites on their computers?
References
Melgosa, Annette and Scott, Rudy. (2013). School internet safety. More than 'block it to stop it'. The Journal of Adventist Education, 26-31.
Shulevitz, Judith. (2016). It's O.K., liberal parents, you can freak out about porn. The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/2a6zaV5.
Thornburgh, Dick and Lin, Herbert. (2004). Youth, pornography, and the internet. Issues in Science and Technology, 20-2.
