Children's Safety: Online and Off

As a digital native (a person who has grown up with the internet) it is difficult to imagine a parent's natural fears regarding the internet as a new and potentially harmful medium. When I was a child, back in the early 90s the internet was still a fairly new creation, and arguably a safer environment. The amount of websites, good and bad, were just in the thousands. This pales in comparison to the over 600 million websites available now. Over the years since it's creation the internet has gotten progressively larger and more easily accessible for all ages. Parent reception of the internet generally contains mild skepticism regarding the safety for their children. However, most children and teenagers still use the internet either on a weekly or daily basis. The article that I'm going to discuss ties into children's use of the internet, and covers topics of child safety online,

This article, published earlier this month, begins by tying instances of neglected and unsupervised children to unsupervised children on the internet. The author creates an interesting and compelling discussion revolving around this question: "How is it that a society so protective of children offline has left them largely unsupervised online?" The article briefly discusses the dangers of internet use, such as predators, cyber-bullying, pornography, or even the digital footprint that children begin to compile from an early age. One clarifying point made by the author says that the risk for these are low, but so is the risk of being kidnapped while coming home from the park. I was pleased by this comment, because the author admits that these risks--while existent--are low. The article then quickly delves into the discussion of child safety, and surveillance. The author discusses two technologies called VISR and Artimys which both rely on "mild-monitoring" to scan children's messages on SNS for harmful or threatening material. Parents as seen as uncomfortable with the idea of spying on their kid, and children don't want their conversations monitored by a software either. They conclude that "(...) children's expectation of privacy far outweighs parents' demand for their safety and the marketplace is responding accordingly."

To begin, I think there is an interesting discussion to be had about why parents are more rigid regarding offline surveillance of their child in comparison to online. There could be many reasons for this, the first of which is that there has been a compilation of social rules developed, maintained and passed down through the years regarding offline safety. "Don't talk to strangers", "hold my hand so we don't get lost", and "don't keep secrets from your parents" are just a few examples. The internet is a fairly new creation meaning there is no equivalent set of rules maintained through society. Another explanation is something we have already touched on in class: the disconnect between the internet and "the real world." Sometimes, we don't see the internet as really "real", which includes it's potential to cause harm or consequences. 

A second point to discuss is the idea of "mild-monitoring" as a form of child safety and protection. My own personal standpoint is that I believe children and especially teenagers deserve their privacy. While their "mild-monitoring" only looks out for "harmful" material I have my uncertainties. There are other ways to provide a safe internet experience without resorting to breaking your child's privacy. Safety and privacy settings are available on most if not all computers. Safe search on google is available, and filters can be set up to keep children off harmful websites. I believe that--as we covered briefly in class--it is part of the parent's role to inform and educate children about the positives and dangers of internet use. Monitoring children's conversations is a step too far in my opinion. As for if it would actually help protect children I cannot say for sure. I am interested to see a case study where you have half of the families install this software, and the other half not install this software and see the results. However, like the article said, there isn't enough demand, and therefore the marketplace sees no place for such a product. 

To conclude, I am interested to see if child monitoring software is actually productive at protecting children, but I still have my reserves about breaching children's privacy.