Parental Control and the Internet

According to guardchild.com, 17% of teens surveyed stated that they received an email or an online message with photos or words that made them feel uncomfortable, and only 7% of parents were aware of this. In an article titled “The Undercover Parent” by Harlan Coben, it explains about the idea about parents using spyware on their children. Everything a child types can already be seen by the world, even pedophiles or online bullies. Coben supports the idea; however, he feels that showing the article to a child is better because it can lead to a to a conversation about concerns the parents may have. Parents should monitor their children’s online behavior because they want to keep their children safe from cyber bullies and pedophiles.

“If you have to spy on your kids, something’s wrong,” says Michael Brody, a child psychiatrist. Is Juvenoia, the fear that the Internet is causing negative effect on children, really necessary? Many adults these days are concerned of teen safety on the Internet, thus proclaiming that monitoring usage of the Internet would benefit both the child and the parent. In the article, “The Undercover Parent”, Harlan Coben explains how all parents should use spyware on their teen’s devices to monitor Internet usage. After an extensive amount of research, I disagree with Coben’s claim. Spyware is not only unnecessary, but also expresses the message: “I don’t trust you.”

As the Internet developed, it brings a lot of benefits, such as getting information much quicker; however, it also brings problem. One problem that Internet brings to today’s society is children’s safety on virtual world; there are a lot of temptations attract kids on the Internet. This issue Coben discusses is a particularly controversial one because it’s hard for parents ignore the dangerous on the Internet; on the other hand, if parents surveillance kids’ privacy world, it’s really embarrassed for children. How could we solve this problem? What is a compromise way for both parents and children? Coben thinks parents should use spyware on the computer, but not surreptitious doing this; parents should tell

One argument that many people mention is that spyware is an invasion of privacy. As a teenager myself, I value the whole idea of privacy. The use of spyware to monitor your child’s computer is on the borderline of invasion of that privacy; however the use of none of it is on the borderline and even beyond the point negligence. Coben mentions this idea of privacy on the internet that, “One of the most popular arguments against spyware is the claim that you are reading your teenager’s every thought, that in today’s world, a computer is the little key-locked diary of the past. But posting thoughts on the Internet isn’t the same thing as hiding them under your mattress.”(Coben 1). In reality, there is no real form of privacy on the internet. What you post there will forever be there and can be seen by anyone no matter how many passwords or locks you put on it. However most teens and kids would still over look this idea and consider the use of spyware an invasion of their privacy, and it can be. If you are monitoring every single conversation your child has, then that’s crossing the line and invading the privacy of your child. There is a difference between being responsible and being nosy. You as a parent are there to look out for dangerous chatter or possible conversations that look and sound concerning. You are not there to listen in on what teacher they hate, or who they have a crush on, or if they’re crying over how a book ended. However, not monitoring at all is practically a form of neglect. Being a parent it is your responsibility to protect your child from the possible dangers of the world, whether it is in real life or online. Providing no form of protection or even checking on your child’s activities online can put them at high risk of getting hurt whether it is emotionally or physically. The dangers are out there and it is worth crossing the border of privacy in

By restricting access and deterring inappropriate use. Children and young people still seem to experience some possible risks. Such as, contact with people not known to them and cyber-bullying. Which emphasises just two safeguarding issues derived from the national concerns highlighted from the e- safety policy. Therefore, to give a fuller picture of safeguarding issues more research would be beneficial. However, as stated by EUKGO (2014) not all contact young people have with people not already known to them is bad.so by restricting a child’s use of communication sites could result in lost opportunities for children and young people to socialise. Therefore, as suggested by Byron, (2014) approaching on-line risks the same as offline risks will take into consideration the bigger picture of how the internet affects the child when they are on-line and off line.as the quote from the 12 year old girl showed, in the EUKGO 2014 “It’s easier to say horrible stuff about people on [the Internet]. It got really horrible in Year 10. Lots of people were being bullying over [the Internet]. It gets brought into school. When friends do this, it’s horrible. It makes you really upset. You don’t want to go into school

In the article Let Kids Run Online written by Danah Boyd, Boyd questions whether parents monitoring their children's online social life is a good or a bad thing. Many parents can agree that monitoring their phones and computers is actually a good thing. It can keep children out from harm’s way, it would be easier for parents to find things out that their kids don’t feel comfortable to actually say out loud, and it could possibly bring them closer together by having them be so close.

Coben states that parents should put spyware on their kids computers, but shouldn’t be nosey and be completely responsible look for anything hazardous. However I disagree and believe teenagers should be trusted with online responsibilities. One reason for this is a third party (the vendor) makes a record of what you do ,but the author did not make note this or did not even know which in my opinion is worst than a faceless bureaucrat because that third is likely to release it to other parties such as google or other big corporations.

When parents want to know everything their child is doing on the internet, the children feel they are invading their privacy, but in reality they are doing it for their child’s safety. In “The Undercover Parent” by Harlan Coben, he talks about the option of parents installing spy software on their children’s computers to detect any strange activity that could be harmful to their safety. By doing this he explains the many dangers and fatalities that could be prevented, it will also enable parents to feel better about their child’s safety. Some parents do not agree on placing the software on their child’s computers because they feel their kids are responsible enough to use the internet properly, so they refuse to install it (372-373). I agree with Coben that spy software should be installed on children’s computers, but without their knowledge so the software can safely monitor their online activity.

¨The Undercover Parent¨ by Harlan Coben, published in an online newspaper (NewYorkTimes.com, March 16,2008), claims that the Internet is dangerous for kids. Harlan Coben explained how spyware could keep track of our kids, but it also invades the sons’ and daughters’ privacy. He also claims that parents should have conversations about their concerns with teens, and let them know spyware is a possibility. Coben started with an anecdote about spyware, presenting the topic, acknowledging hesitation, recognizing how parents feel, countering parental arguments, stating counterarguments, argues and claims about eavesdropping, suggests that parents should use spyware, and encourages the parents to use it. The author’s purpose is to warn the audience

Many teens are in real danger every day while using the internet and parents don't even know it. Jimmy a 14 year old, who talks to Bubbles the Clown on online chats does not know that he is actually a 55 year old man. Bubbles says “lets meet up” and Jimmy thinks it's safe, but Bubbles ends up kidnapping Jimmy. In Harlan Coben's article, “The Undercover Parent,” he informatively explains that computer spyware is a good idea to help protect teens from the dangers of the internet. The computer software allows parents to see everything their child does on the internet. Coben agrees that it is not right to use it to be nosy in a teen’s life. But Parents are there to be a “safety net” and nothing more. I agree with Coben; Parents should consider

“This legislation grew out of the fact that by 1998 roughly ten million American children had access to the Internet, and at the same time, studies indicated that children were unable to understand the potential effect of revealing their personal information online and parent failed to monitor their children’s use of the Internet.” (Koby)

In this article the author discusses about the harmful actives that the internet dose to the youth. With two main points; cyber bullying and sexting, the author briefly discusses what they are and what threat that occurs from them. The article is useful to me because it shows the harmfulness on what could happen on the internet. However, this article is very vague and lakes a certain amount of information to achieve its point.

Internet safety has been an extensive issue for children and adolescents since accuse to the Internet has become readily available in homes. With Internet use increasing at such rapid rates and a large proportion of adolescents using the Internet daily, the awareness of Internet safety should be addressed. The term Internet safety can be defined as “the knowledge of maximizing an individuals safety to private information, and self protection from using the Internet”. The impact and influence that the Internet has on adolescent life is far-reaching and research findings by Norris (2007) indicate that one-quarter of the American youth that go online at home, do so in the privacy of their rooms. Additionally, with the recent trend of wireless connections there has been a profound expansion in private Internet usage. The diverse means by which adolescents are using the Internet has become coupled with inherent risks of unsupervised and uneducated use.

The Internet is a global network of vast information. With a few clicks, an individual can have access to up to 200 million web-sites filled with educational and recreational information. The Internet is not regulated in anyway (Carnegie Library 1). It is accessible throughout the entire world from the North to the South, to the early morning sunrise and dark sunsets. Different ethnicity and backgrounds come together linked upon this network resembling a connection of one body in unity. Sadly, issues arise creating concern for users, focusing particularly on minors. Pornography is one of the inappropriate materials on the Internet for minors. This material is harmful to young impressionable minds. Pornography is tearing and

Some parents are not aware of dangers of internet that brings to their children particularly making friends through internet. For example, their children might get cheated with someone else on internet and their children will not tell what happen to them when they encounter danger. According to BBC News, a 47 year old man defrauded a 13 year old girl online and asked to meet face to face. Luckily, the girl’s mother found out beforehand or else her daughter might be in danger. From this news, we can see that there internet friends are not always honest and they are more likely to consider as un-trustful strangers. Therefore, parents should concern more about their children, teach them about the dangers of making friends on internet, and avoid them from going out with a stranger.