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What do you think of censoring, like blocking porn sites and possibly obscure sites that might depict awful gore? Do you think education suffices? At what age?
by jolmg 7y ago
What do you think of censoring, like blocking porn sites and possibly obscure sites that might depict awful gore? Do you think education suffices? At what age?
I want to agree with everything you said, but there's some crazy things on the net. With children being the curious and impressionable creatures that they are, I find it scary to think how much they could be influenced by what they happen to come upon or search on a whim.
- cpach 7y agoDoesn’t kids mostly handle that stuff on their own? E.g. by refusing to watch. When I was in junior high some guys would go to the computer lab and visit really vile gore sites. I never did though. From what they told me it just seemed repulsive enough that I never visited those sites.
- jolmg 7y agoYou never did, but they did. I don't know why it was more repulsive for you, but without knowing the difference between you and them, it doesn't seem like something that can be relied upon.
- ulises314 7y agoAlas that difference is the only thing that will actually matter; a curious enough kid will find a venue to circumvent restriction (friend's house, Internet cafe)
- cpach 7y agoSpot on. I guess it’s the same thing with alcohol and cigarettes. If the kids want to try it, they will find the stuff. (FWIW, I didn’t smoke a cigarette until I was 20 or so. I was curious, just not about tobacco.)
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ahje 7y agoIf your child is watching gore vids on the internet then the solution is to sit down and have a very serious talk to the kid -- not to rely on a technical solution to prevent it.
- jolmg 7y agoSure, but how do you find out if a child is seeing such things without monitoring? Let them get comfortable enough that they don't feel like they have to hide that kind of thing from you?
- ahje 7y agoThe parent comment I replied to was about blocking, not monitoring. Monitoring is a whole other matter.
- jolmg 7y agoThe parent comment I replied to was about avoiding monitoring in favor of education. I replied asking if education was considered sufficient on its own or if blocking was also desirable in addition to educating. You replied that instead of blocking one should just talk to them if they're seeing stuff they're not supposed to. Unless you rely on catching them by accident, that seems to reintroduce the need for monitoring that we were avoiding, so I replied asking how we're supposed to know such things without it. Monitoring is related. The whole subthread is about avoiding it.
- ahje 7y agoSorry, I misunderstood you then. For what it's worth, I couldn't even monitor all my teenager's Internet traffic even if I wanted to. We have had the "there's a lot of wierd stuff on the Net" talk, and there has been other kids at school who apparently MMS'ed some pretty bad stuff to the other kids, which resulted in a very productive discussion about peer pressure and the importance of being responsible. I believe that approach is better than trying to control everything. Otherwise you'll simply end up with a bunch of kids in a small bubble that bursts when they move out, and then the World will simply come crashing down on them no matter what. It's better to prepare them for what's to come.
- burfog 7y agoContent ("porn sites", "awful gore") is a relatively insignificant issue compared to the time sink of useless junk. There are so many mind-dulling videos that would be rated G. There are so many mind-dulling games. Your kid can spend 16 hours a day listening to a talking orange or driving a tank. Really, just focus on the time sink.