Are you afraid of the Internet?
May 6, 2007
The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan recently published a survey called The National Poll on Children’s Health. While this report calls out the usual suspects of drugs and obesity, there was one concern that was surprisingly high: the Internet.
When I saw this, I was pretty shocked. I was all set to type up a post about our people’s collective reluctance to embrace technology, or at least non-consumer technologies. Then, I read this part, which messed that post all up:
Internet safety had no differences in proportion of concern by education status, income level or marital status.
Although race is not explicitly mentioned here, I doubt that the difference between Black people and non-Black people is statistically significant. I wonder what everyone is afraid of?
I know that people fear Online Predators. Some people also fear Identity Theft. Others are concerned about all the porn. There are other things.
There has got to be more to it than that though. Are people, parents in the case of this study, afraid of the Internet because they don’t understand it? Do they think that the bad outweighs the good? Most importantly, are they encouraging their children not to use the Internet because of these fears? I certainly hope not because I see this as a tremendous opportunity to teach about risks & rewards, about using technology (or anything for that matter) responsibly and carefully.
What scares you about the Internet? Are you afraid of certain parts of it? Are you concerned about your children’s usage of the Internet? I would love to hear parents’ opinions on this.
It’s important that we understand technology, all sides of technology. We can only realize our full potential once we understand the world we live in more fully. For better or worse, the Internet is important in today and tomorrow’s world.
One Love. One II.
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2 Responses to “Are you afraid of the Internet?”
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I admit I do have concerns that folks think keeping in touch with people with the internet is a viable option that may replace human interaction.
While I am a technology supporter, I must ask my brothers and sisters to meet up with each other, hug, sit down and talk.
I’m not at concerned about identity theft but I will say stalking and online hate speech and abuse concern me especially with marginalized communities.
Myspace/Crackspace/Stalkspace -the engulfed concern my students have with watching their partners or friends does not teach them to develop healthy relationships based on trust, honesty and respect.
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