On-line dangers to children, parents shouldn't use IT ignorance as excuse

There has been a lot of debate the last few days since the police told parents off for not policing their kids access to social sites, that are regularly infiltrated by paedophiles intent on grooming their kids. I don't often agree with the police, I think they are usually far too politically correct and take the wrong side too often. On this occasion though, they are right. Parents should do more to alert their kids to the dangers. One line of argument that has been cited too often and too loudly is that parents can't possibly keep up with IT, which their kids can obviously manage to do much more easily. I am amazed that such an argument gets any support.

Do people really believe that kids are smarter than grown-ups. Of course they aren't. There is almost no difference in intelligence level as people grow up, and only when we get very old do our brains decay significantly compared to our youth. The kids use technology more, so they become more familiar with it. It's as simple as that. If adults use technology, they too become familiar with it. If adults use chat rooms and social networking sites, they understand perfectly well how they work and how to use them. All parents should become familiar with the kinds of stuff their kids use. To opt out and blame an age difference for inability is just laziness and neglect.

I introduced by daughter to chat rooms when she was 5. It was greatly amusing seeing how people responded to her, mainly not believing she was 5. I introduced her to Bebo, to Second life, to her email, her first web site, to chat and instant messaging, to Spotify, and Facebook. At each stage I pointed out the dangers, what to do and not do, what sort of information not to share. I don't need to spy on her usage because I know she knows what she is doing and is careful, and after that what she gets up to is her affair. My parental duty is to introduce her to stuff as she becomes old enough to handle it and use it safely, and to make her aware of any dangers. The same goes for other parents. It is just the same as showing them how to cross a street, it opens new doors for them but keep them safe. And they grow to become competent fully fledged adults. It's really not difficult to use any on-line stuff. It normally only takes a few minutes on a new kind of platform to understand the basics, and mostly that's all you need to know. You don't need to be an expert at manipulating fonts or page templates, but you do need to understand the capabilities in terms of what sorts of things you can do with other people, and hence what other people can do with your kids. You need to understand whether sites are moderated or not, or whether there are policed aged restrictions. But all of this is simple stuff to learn, and there really is no proper excuse for not doing so.

Having said all that, it's a pity that only the parents that are already following the advice are able to read this :(