Internet Not Really Dangerous For Kids After All 445
Thomas M Hughes writes "We're all familiar with the claim that it's horribly dangerous to allow our children on to the Internet. It's long been believed that the moment a child logs on to the Internet, he will experience a flood of inappropriate sexual advances. Turns out this isn't an accurate representation of reality at all. A high-profile task force representing 49 state attorneys general was organized to find a solution to the problem of online sexual solicitation. But instead the panel has issued a report (due to be released tomorrow) claiming that 'Social networks are very much like real-world communities that are comprised mostly of good people who are there for the right reasons.' The report concluded that 'the problem of child-on-child bullying, both online and offline, poses a far more serious challenge than the sexual solicitation of minors by adults.' Turns out the danger to our children was all just media hype and parental anxiety." Those who have aggressively pushed the issue of the dangerous Internet, such as Connecticut's attorney general Richard Blumenthal, are less than happy with the report.
*plop* (mind blown) (Score:5, Interesting)
Golly gee willickers (Score:2, Interesting)
It took this long to find out? (Score:4, Interesting)
I mean... isn't that one of the few truths of the internet?
That if children get anywhere near a computer,
sexual predators spy on them through the webcams...
I also enjoy how the attorney general publicly refuted the results when he didn't like them.
I wish I could do that with things I don't want to be true.
Recession? nahh... War? No way.. thats just an exaggeration by liberal media.
Re:The internet is safe for children? (Score:3, Interesting)
Another two years, and I have no doubt that he could play a decent game of Counter Strike.
Mod Up! (Score:5, Interesting)
It is very sad that our society has come to this, and there is no doubt whatever that it is the fault of the women. I don't mind saying that: I deal with stupid bitches every day.
Re:Reminds me of a Southpark episode... (Score:4, Interesting)
And part of the reason why part of the definition of an Amber Alert is that the kid cannot be expected to be with either of their parents... parental-custody-despite-court-order doesn't count.
Re:Think of the children! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:*plop* (mind blown) (Score:3, Interesting)
I would recommend we think of the children. [farkitrol.com]
Re:Unfortunately... (Score:5, Interesting)
Mine will. They get online at 2, when they get their first personal computer. It's part of how I teach them to read.
Re:They made fools out of themselves. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Equally Misleading (Score:3, Interesting)
Good article... shows the mentality of the Psychologists/Social workers though, something like this:
Two social workers were walking through a rough part of the city in the evening. They heard moans and muted cries for help from a back lane. Upon investigation, they found a semi-conscious man in a pool of blood. "Help me, I've been mugged and viciously beaten" he pleaded. The two social workers turned and walked away. One remarked to her colleague: "You know the person that did this really needs help."
Er, no. How about:
Two social workers see a semi-conscious man in a pool of blood. "Help me, I've been mugged and viciously beaten" he pleads.
"Tell you what," says one social worker to the other, "I'll take care of this guy. You go find the person who did it and make sure he never does it again."
Re:Mod Up! (Score:3, Interesting)
There have been several times in public, generally at the local Mall, where I've witnessed a child in distress. By child I mean someone whose age is still in the single digits. Whether it's they've become lost and can't find their parents, or anything else, the first thing I always do is look around for the nearest mall cop and wave them over.
I am by no means hideous physically. I tend to dress half the time like Doctor House (jeans and a suit jacket, button down shirt) or leather jacket, t-shirt and pajama bottoms.
Even when I'm dressed in a perfectly 'normal' fashion for a non-college campus, clean-shaven, and don't have dyed hair, I don't do jack shit. I am far too worried about being detained and arrested for nothing more than trying to help someone in distress.
Now, if it was a medical emergency, I would be the first one to run over and start giving orders to everyone else around me to get what I need to stabilise the child until Emergency Services could get there. But otherwise, I wouldn't go near.
What's wrong with people? (Score:2, Interesting)
hrm... is Richard pissed that he was wrong about his stance or that our children aren't in imminent danger?
Re:Equally Misleading (Score:3, Interesting)
You remind me of the last bully fight I ever got into. Now I had, had to deal with groups of atackers often enough - my reaction was to kick and punch at anything I could reach, they grab limbs, I jerk madly until something comes free and lash out- of course I always lost those, but I left a few of them with some serious bruises at least.
But the last one was a solo, who was just coming at me for no reason. By then I had been doing martial arts for some years - and I also had learned one thing, beating a bully doesn't stop him - they just come back harder because you upset their little power-system, they only stop when they are so badly beaten and humiliated that they are dead scared of you - too scared to be able to hide it behind macho.
This time though... I was going to try something new. I never threw a single punch but I dodged and blocked with everything I ever learned in class - I avoided every punch he threw, every kick hit air or bounced harmlessly of a deflection move. For ten minutes he was punching at nothing before teachers found us.
When I pointed out, as witnessed by the entire schoolyard that I didn't even hit back once, I just dodged his punches and he still kept coming, he was sumarily suspended for three weeks, and I got off without so much as a warning. When he came back, his arm was in a cast, turns out one of those blocked punches of his was so stupidly thrown (lots of power behind it, no brains) that he broke his thumb on my arm. Poetic justice that was... and somehow, I never got into a fight again.
Re:Japanese Subways (Score:1, Interesting)
I can recall when I was about 7 years old (winter 1996), some bullies had beaten me up pretty well and left me sitting on the snow crying. A lot of people just drove by, even though it was obvious I was "in distress".
After a few minutes a kind stranger (probably 25-35 years old) pulled up and asked me what happened. I told him what happened, and he offered me a ride home.
Lo and behold, he took me home, and told my mom what had happened. She thanked him, and we never saw him again.
Re:Equally Misleading (Score:3, Interesting)
I can't say the same from my experience. I've gotten the crap kicked out of me by fewer bullies at a time. But what the GP totally misses in that sentence (without my bothering to read his full post) is that some of us have a much better chance of winning in an online fight than a physical fight. Then again, being just a few years too old to have experienced this cyber bullying craze personally in middle school or high school, perhaps I'm just not aware of how one "wins" an online battle of harrassment.
Re:*plop* (mind blown) (Score:3, Interesting)
Funny...I did just fine on long trips as a young kid, with NO such thing as TV on the road.