7 ms·

I'm not sure if this story is true but it leads me to a question: Should any parent let their child use any IT system that creates a permanent record that they

I'm not sure if this story is true but it leads me to a question: Should any parent let their child use any IT system that creates a permanent record that they are not in charge of. I would be far happier with a child writing a blog that their friends can access rather than ever posting to Facebook. Have logging turned off on comments entered using your child's account and you have plausible deniability. I suppose the problem is telling them that are not allowed to comment on their friends Facebook posts. It'll be interesting to see what we have in 15 years time?

Zikes 13y ago
You can't monitor children 24/7, especially not teenagers, and cutting them off from the internet in this day and age would only stunt them socially and intellectually. I count myself very lucky that as a teenager I was allowed to have my own computer and internet connection. For all the valid worries about what trouble I might have gotten myself into, I instead grew up to be the most successful member of my family with a career in IT. We can't let fears of isolated incidents like these drive all of our decisions, or we'll just end up with the parental equivalent of the TSA.
acdha 13y ago
> Should any parent let their child use any IT system that creates a permanent record that they are not in charge of. This is the same as thinking that not telling your children about sex or alcohol will keep them from experimenting. It's much better to have a respectful, grownup conversation where you explain the risks and how to reduce them.
- megablast 13y ago
  In the article, the dad points out how his son was not the sort to read newspapers, or watch the news. I am not sure why the Dad thought it wasn't important for his son to do these sort of things.
  - rdouble 13y ago
    It's kinda more disturbing if the kid came up with the mass killing joke in complete isolation.
mindstab 13y ago
Maybe parents just shouldn't raise kids in the US?
- speeder 13y ago
  I do not have children yet, and one of the reasons I am reluctant to move to the US (even with people sometimes insisting me to do so because of SV and all) is that I think US is one of the worst places in the world to raise a child, excepting other obvious bad places (ie: any country US attacked since the end of cold war, like Somalia, Libya, Iraq...)
  - Zimahl 13y ago
    Lol, wut? Listen, not getting into the obvious nationalism that tends to color something like this, but the US is a damn fine place to live. Is it better than the UK, France, or Germany? In some ways, yes, and in other ways, no. The problem is that you are reading some very specific articles that are coloring your perception. You're focusing your attention to only the negative, which will obviously make you think everything is negative. The US is in the middle of make gay marriage legal. Not being gay legal, but the idea that two men or two women can be in a state-recognized marriage. They'd hang both parties in Iran. A state Senator in Texas openly spoke against an anti-abortion bill for over 10 hours, without sitting, leaning against a podium, or going to the bathroom. She brought national news to a decisive issue without being arrested. Say what you want about the job he is doing, but we have an African-American president. That's pretty progressive considering that he wouldn't have even had same rights as a white person only 40 years ago. I can drive from Portland, OR, to New York City and not have to show a single sliver of paper to anyone (unless I get pulled over for speeding). So, feel free to fear that which you don't understand but know that your feelings are tainted by a small sub-section of information.
    - speeder 13y ago
      Actually, the US is full of narcisistic egocentric and overly individualistic people. The defense you made for the US, even kinda proves it, I don't care the race of the president, or about anti-abortion... The issues I DO care when taking care of children, are the ones that US outright suck. I don't want to give GMO-ed milk to my children, or all the crap you put into your food, or live in a country that teaches that invading other countries over and over again is nice, or that has more aircraft carriers than the rest of the world summed and think this is being peaceful, or that has people more concerned about gay rights/feminism/etc... instead of being concerned about true well being of future generations and of the country.

Zikes 13y ago

You can't monitor children 24/7, especially not teenagers, and cutting them off from the internet in this day and age would only stunt them socially and intellectually. I count myself very lucky that as a teenager I was allowed to have my own computer and internet connection. For all the valid worries about what trouble I might have gotten myself into, I instead grew up to be the most successful member of my family with a career in IT. We can't let fears of isolated incidents like these drive all of our decisions, or we'll just end up with the parental equivalent of the TSA.

acdha 13y ago

> Should any parent let their child use any IT system that creates a permanent record that they are not in charge of. This is the same as thinking that not telling your children about sex or alcohol will keep them from experimenting. It's much better to have a respectful, grownup conversation where you explain the risks and how to reduce them.

megablast 13y ago
In the article, the dad points out how his son was not the sort to read newspapers, or watch the news. I am not sure why the Dad thought it wasn't important for his son to do these sort of things.
- rdouble 13y ago
  It's kinda more disturbing if the kid came up with the mass killing joke in complete isolation.

mindstab 13y ago

Maybe parents just shouldn't raise kids in the US?

speeder 13y ago
I do not have children yet, and one of the reasons I am reluctant to move to the US (even with people sometimes insisting me to do so because of SV and all) is that I think US is one of the worst places in the world to raise a child, excepting other obvious bad places (ie: any country US attacked since the end of cold war, like Somalia, Libya, Iraq...)
- Zimahl 13y ago
  Lol, wut? Listen, not getting into the obvious nationalism that tends to color something like this, but the US is a damn fine place to live. Is it better than the UK, France, or Germany? In some ways, yes, and in other ways, no. The problem is that you are reading some very specific articles that are coloring your perception. You're focusing your attention to only the negative, which will obviously make you think everything is negative. The US is in the middle of make gay marriage legal. Not being gay legal, but the idea that two men or two women can be in a state-recognized marriage. They'd hang both parties in Iran. A state Senator in Texas openly spoke against an anti-abortion bill for over 10 hours, without sitting, leaning against a podium, or going to the bathroom. She brought national news to a decisive issue without being arrested. Say what you want about the job he is doing, but we have an African-American president. That's pretty progressive considering that he wouldn't have even had same rights as a white person only 40 years ago. I can drive from Portland, OR, to New York City and not have to show a single sliver of paper to anyone (unless I get pulled over for speeding). So, feel free to fear that which you don't understand but know that your feelings are tainted by a small sub-section of information.
  - speeder 13y ago
    Actually, the US is full of narcisistic egocentric and overly individualistic people. The defense you made for the US, even kinda proves it, I don't care the race of the president, or about anti-abortion... The issues I DO care when taking care of children, are the ones that US outright suck. I don't want to give GMO-ed milk to my children, or all the crap you put into your food, or live in a country that teaches that invading other countries over and over again is nice, or that has more aircraft carriers than the rest of the world summed and think this is being peaceful, or that has people more concerned about gay rights/feminism/etc... instead of being concerned about true well being of future generations and of the country.