Over protective adults.

In the rather thick load of Newspaper that was distrobuted today, I read with interest on one article regarding the writer being "horrified" to find her 8 year old niece e-mailing someone she met online.

Of course, with the thoughts of the two women who were raped by a guy they met online flooding her brain, she ordered the poor girl to stop immediately.

>_>

Seriously, what's wrong with meeting friends online? The problem does not lie in meeting the person online, but meeting the person OFFLINE. Yes, if you meet a person offline, the chance of getting raped, your wallet stolen, your handphone being flushed down the toilet, will be there. Yet, if you keep it to a friendly online relationship, the worst that could happen would be he/she swearing at you via e-mail, which you can simply laugh and delete it. After all, Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.

The problem lies with these over protective adults, who seem to think that every guy on the net is some kind of disease towards young girls, whom should never have any form of communication, whether digital or handwritten, whatsoever. Please, children today are much smarter then they are back in the days when the said adults are of similar age. They know the difference between real life and digital life, thanks to the extensive education given to them in their schools. In addition to " shall never talk to strangers", there's also the "I shall not meet anyone I don't know online" thingy which is taught in schools.

Online communication has allowed millions of people to get connected together. I remembered the times when I would spend hours at a time on ICQ, just fascinated with the amount of cool people out there. In comparision, that's the same thing for the kids who have learned to use the internet. Whether it's gaming boards such as Miniclip boards, Neopest boards, or actual games itself, such as MapleStory and such, the internet has allowed everyone to meet others outside their normal circle of life. If you restrict the kids from meeting "strangers", they are going to turn out to be a rather sad life person (like a particular female in my class). Talking online is one of the easier ways to express yourself, because you can go "Screw you, asshole!", and you won't have to care about it tomorrow. Of course, that's totally stupid and irresponsible, but the point is, there's no strings attached. Try saying that to a friend of yours, and see the difference. People seem to be able to communicate much better behind a mask which seems to hide them. Of course, you migth argue that the people who chat online too much will not know what to do when the mask is removed. However, being able to communicate online is more of a stepping stone towards being to communicate well. Heck, if you can interprete accurately the feelings of the person behind the computer, you definately will know how an actual person will feel.

In fact, if you remove the privilege of communicating online to the kid, s/he will actually find a way to go by you, and continue the communication. There's this rebellious nature in each and everyone of us whic will want to find a way to defy authority, especially if we can get away with it. It's part of the curiosity nature found inside the heart of children. Tell a kid not to play computer when you are out, and when you return home, the monitor will be hot.

No, the solution to such a "problem" is not to remove it totally, because it will be pointless. How can you actually spend each and every minute of your time checking what your child is doing? Install filters? Pfft. There are so many ways around such bullshit which claim to protect your children. Our hectic schedule will mean that we are unable to sit beside our kid, watching him shoot at some mushrooms in Maplestory for an hour each day. If anyone does that, he or she is just wasting precious time. The solution is to educate the child. Tell him the dangers of meeting someone online, and especially offline. Those girls had it coming because they were stupid enough to get alone with the guy. If you stay in a public place, what can happen? I have met a few GameFAQ board members offline, and the result was rather satisfying, as we basically messed around and had fun. Meeting others without that veil covering your face is rather interesting, as you would want to know what the real person is like. The kids will definately want to experience the thrill, somehow, or perhaps, someday. The trick is to simply inform their parents, get an adult if they are still young, and simply stay in crowded areas. Don't head to the person's home and that kind of rubbish, because if you do, you are just asking for it.

A kid with education, and hence knows what's happening, and what he should do is definately a better one who tries to hide everything from his parents, and end up getting screwed, literally. Hence, education is important to such "dangers" of the internet. Meeting someone online is definately nice, but you just have to be "internet-smart", and the world will continue along fine. Depriving a kid a chance to be educated, and hence become "internet-smart" isn't the way. How long can you stop the kid from using the net? 1 year? 10 years? He need to know such things. The sooner, the better.