Internet Safer for Kids Than We'Ve Been Led to Believe
David Weinberger, Joho the Blog, January 14, 2009.

In the light of this post on the more unsavory uses of Flickr (there is a long comment thread) it is worth taking note of this study, highlighted by David Weinberger, that shows that the internet just isn't the danger to children it is often portrayed to be. Weinberger comments, "This is an important report because it is relentlessly based on data-driven research. The task force believes it has considered every piece of peer-reviewed research published and more. Its conclusions come in response to all the known data." If you want to be worried about something, be worried about child-to-child bullying (and the sort of things in our society that would lead a child to thing that this sort of behaviour is appropriate).

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Re: Internet Safer for Kids Than We'Ve Been Led to Believe

Les Nessman, January 15, 2009

so I find it hard not to read this post as an endorsement of Joho's take on this report, both of which don't have appear to have actually read it and appreciate how superficial this summary is. The report focuses a lot on the risks in social networking sites. As such, great, it's good to calm down the fears about online predators which definitely seem like so much FUD. But the chances of exposure to inappropriate materials are HUGE (much larger than the chances of exposure to either online predators or cyber-bullying). And to claim that the kids who come across it must either seeking it out or engaging in already risky behaviour is to ignore how prevalent advertising that supports really questionable sites can be found on not so risky or questionable sites. It really doesn't take long, a click or two, for kids to find themselves places we really don't want them to be. I'm not suggesting banning it, but we shouldn't downplay it either, which both joho's and this post seem to me to do. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

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