There were many issues raised in the PBS Documentary "Growing Up Online". Most of the warnings were directed towards parents, and how they should teach their children the dangers of social networking and online relationships. They discuss how teens are able create an entire secret identity online, and in some cases would be outraged if their parents even knew about it. Parents should be aware of what their children are posting and who is able to see their posts. Most of the time, the children are not even aware of who they are exposing themselves to when they are posting online.
The stories shared in the documentary are different cases of teens trying to escape their own reality and enter their own world online. They are afraid to interact, or "be themselves" around the people they know, so they are forced to find and make friendships online with people that can relate to them. This can be dangerous, and even fatal in some cases. It is risky business to befriend strangers, and even more so, to do so by posting intimate details about their lives. This leads to cyber-bullying, and even physical bullying. In conclusion, parents should definitely be aware and should constantly be asking their children what they are doing online. They might even consider going as far as following all of their children's blogs, profiles...etc.
You made a good point that parents should know what their children are doing online. Many teenagers spend more time on the internet today than before and their parents have no idea what their children do on the internet. It's dangerous because their children might make some bad people online.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Parents should definitely be aware and should constantly be asking their children what they are doing online. This will create a safer environment for the teens because if they are open about what they are doing then the parents can prevent anything bad from happening. and if there is any cyber bullying or any suspicious thing then parents can detect it right away and can stop it from getting really bad.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Parents should definitely be aware and should constantly be asking their children what they are doing online. This will create a safer environment for the teens because if they are open about what they are doing then the parents can prevent anything bad from happening. and if there is any cyber bullying or any suspicious thing then parents can detect it right away and can stop it from getting really bad.
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