Online predators

I watched the breakfast show 'Today' this morning and don't do this usually because it tends to annoy me, especially when the 'Technology Editor' comes on. What was the topic? Of course, internet safety. The top tips for children's use of the internet were, 1) avoid social networking sites, 2) always supervise children's Internet use, and something about privacy filters not actually working.

There are so many good things that the Internet offers that the mindset of looking for the bad, and making blanket statements about every child's usage, invokes a sense of frustration in me. Yes, we need to educate our children about online predators, and teach them what are appropriate sites and what the dangers are. This is paramount, but never letting your child go on the Internet unsupervised seems to be a simplistic and for many parents, an unmanageable solution. Banning social networking sites would probably make some children want to use them more and hence look for ways to disobey parents' instructions, especially if 'all' their friends use them. What wasn't mentioned was the fantastic privacy filters that one can choose for one's profile (available both on Facebook and MySpace). My stepdaughter has never had any problems because she has these private settings. More education about the great and various filters available needs to be provided rather than stating that the solution is to ban sites and disallow unsupervised usage.