4 ms·

I think I agree with your main point here, but it seems you're associating the idea of putting constraints on internet usage with the idea of discouraging inter

I think I agree with your main point here, but it seems you're associating the idea of putting constraints on internet usage with the idea of discouraging internet usage. I think you were making the point that parents should be just as attentive to the TV shows their children are watching as they are to the internet their children are exploring, but I just wanted to be sure. ;-)

superuser2 13y ago
Surveillance has a chilling effect, even if you're not doing anything wrong. For the same reason I wouldn't develop the same socially if my parents had forced me to wear a wire in the school cafeteria, I wouldn't be nearly as freely curious if my parents were watching and questioning my web browsing. I'd probably have become an entirely different person. Personally I think parents should look out for Very Bad Things like sharing phone numbers and addresses or meeting with strangers, children living on /b/, people advocating real-world violence, etc. but if the internet is a family-only activity, children will never learn to use it to its full potential. Time limits on the order of a couple hours are pretty reasonable, but I'm talking about people who set a limit of 15 minutes/day, or wealthy families that deliberately have one computer shared with 6+ people because they don't want it to become significant in anyone's life. Also you are probably not going to become a programmer if your parents are nontechnical and installing software on the shared computer requires extensive justification/begging that usually leads to "no." I could just be biased by the kids I knew, however. Their parents saw the internet primarily as a strange and foreign threat to be mitigated, and so all internet activity was bad until justified by "legitimate" need, rather than encouraged unless dangerous.

4 ms·

I think I agree with your main point here, but it seems you're associating the idea of putting constraints on internet usage with the idea of discouraging inter

by notdonspaulding 13y ago

superuser2 13y ago
Surveillance has a chilling effect, even if you're not doing anything wrong. For the same reason I wouldn't develop the same socially if my parents had forced me to wear a wire in the school cafeteria, I wouldn't be nearly as freely curious if my parents were watching and questioning my web browsing. I'd probably have become an entirely different person. Personally I think parents should look out for Very Bad Things like sharing phone numbers and addresses or meeting with strangers, children living on /b/, people advocating real-world violence, etc. but if the internet is a family-only activity, children will never learn to use it to its full potential. Time limits on the order of a couple hours are pretty reasonable, but I'm talking about people who set a limit of 15 minutes/day, or wealthy families that deliberately have one computer shared with 6+ people because they don't want it to become significant in anyone's life. Also you are probably not going to become a programmer if your parents are nontechnical and installing software on the shared computer requires extensive justification/begging that usually leads to "no." I could just be biased by the kids I knew, however. Their parents saw the internet primarily as a strange and foreign threat to be mitigated, and so all internet activity was bad until justified by "legitimate" need, rather than encouraged unless dangerous.