Keeping young Net users out of harm’s way

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IN the early 2000’s, the percentage of Internet access in Sarawak was quite low – roughly 18 per cent of the two million population but  the figure was expected to increase exponentially as the state got more wired over time.

In fact, it was forecast that by 2010, fifty per cent of the population would  be having online connectivity.

While this may represent a step forward in terms of IT savvy and pathway, it has to be noted there is growing concern that unfettered flow of information, at virtually no price, could entice a generation of gullible young surfers to clamber onto the cyber bandwagon unsupervised in ever greater numbers.

Undoubtedly, the Internet has generated many positive changes in the way people communicate and do business but its limitless nature offers anonymity that has opened the door to criminals looking to harm the innocent — and children are often fair game.

Child pornography, for instance, is already a crime, and while there are laws to prosecute such a transgression, what transpire on the seamy side of cyber space often escape law enforcement as it’s impossible to track everything that goes on in the Internet.

In a free-for-all setting, not only grown-ups know where to go to look for muck in virtual world, many youngsters nowadays are perhaps even more adept at seeking out not only adult websites but also other freely posted taboos.

And where mud-slinging and personality-bashing is concerned, the practice of posting comments on some of the local websites to create animosity and enmity is quite rampant.

The quarters who make these postings apparently think nothing of hurting people by spreading falsehoods and, worse, signing their postings with the names of innocent people just to implicate and spite them. Because of their insidious motives, these faceless individuals who derive sadistic highs from running people down, have caused the websites to lose not only all their credibility but also their respectability.

To shield impressionable children from such negative cyber hokum, it is important for parents to set some ground rules for their children’s online activities to help them avoid the black holes of cyber space.

Control of Net use by children can, of course, be a daunting task. With changing social values, resulting in the enactment of anti-smacking law in some western societies, juveniles — so influenced by occidental spare-the-rod upbringing and its disdain for the tiger mother — are becoming more rebellious and will not lightly take a parental ‘no’ for an answer.

As one child psychologist points out, it is not beyond children in the present age to show their defiance by staring down their parents in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation.

In the context of Internet usage, what parents must do to bridge the so-called generation gap is explain why certain ground rules are set and why it’s important they be strictly followed. This approach pays better dividends than the ‘listen-to-me-or-else’ blanket rule that those bereft of proper parenting skills are prone to impose.

Most young Internet surfers are receptive of parental supervision if advised it’s necessary to keep them out of harm’s way in virtual world. Children need to be educated on the perils lurking online for their own good.

Certainly, it’s important to teach children to be safe, responsible and respectful on the Net. Parents should pay attention to symptoms of Internet addiction disorder, including obsession with surfing the Net, lying about extent of Internet use and losing sleep to the web, among others.

It is also important for parents to scrutinise websites, explore safety, privacy tools and parental control features in orderto arrest the level of cyber-crime risks.

Keeping children safe from online abuses requires cooperation at all levels — local, state, federal, and family. Such a measure will enable law enforcement stay ahead of cyber predators. Given the freedom of choice at the disposal of the younger generation these days, the importance of conversance with the do’s and dont’s when getting connected online cannot be over emphasised.

The Internet is, after all, a double-edged sword. Whether it cuts the right or the wrong way depends on the manner of its usage. Indeed, no amount of supervision will serve much purpose without the genuine earnestness to teach the young to use the Net with discretion, accountability and more importantly, self-respect.

In the final analysis, it’s still moral education that counts.  The Internet is a very powerful communication tool and potentially as dangerous, if misused, as it is beneficial when properly used.