Blogs Are Bad For Children… Again.. And Again…

from the enough-already-please-just-talk-and-listen-to-your-kids dept

Time and time again, the Internet has been blamed for endangering children. With all of the attention that has been given to blogging lately, it’s not surprising that someone is warning about the dangers of blogging children. According to the article, “Parry Aftab, who runs the WiredSafety.org program, says she doesn’t think any blogs or community sites ‘out there are safe for kids.'” That comment seems a bit extreme. Parents need to understand that the technology is not inherently unsafe, but rather that kids need to be properly taught how to use it. Blogs afford children many opportunities to connect with their friends and express themselves, and to quash them would be unecessarily overprotective. Sure, pedophiles may scour blogs for a glimpse of a scantily clad teen, but a quick visit to the local mall yields gaggles of teenage girls outfitted in britney-esque outfits. Pedophiles are evil people whether online or offline. Let’s not blame blogging for that.


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Comments on “Blogs Are Bad For Children… Again.. And Again…”

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7 Comments
dorpus says:

Not so fast

Korea is home to a national syndicate of teenage gangsters who have self-organized by blogging, translated into Japanese as “Ichijo-Kai”. They’ve had mass outings, invading stores, playing the “choking game”, the “slave game”, or the “rape game”. If you cross the Ichijo-Kai, hundreds of teen thugs may suddenly show up and beat the living shit out of you.

Over in Nagasaki, we had the famous episode of the 6th grade girl who was upset because her classmate insulted her on a blog, so she slashed her classmate’s throat during lunch and got blood all over herself.

Over in Chiba Prefecture, a 4th grade teacher was recently acquitted of molestation charges after two of his female students cooked up accusations of molestation against him. We can imagine that the internet will give kids more sophistication in cooking up accusations like this.

dorpus says:

The Internet and Paediatric Epidemiology

A kindergarten in Japan conducted a 6-month experiment in making kids go to sleep faster at night, and there have been dramatic improvements in the children’s behavior. Japanese kindergartens are faced with an epidemic of problem children who are overly aggressive or overly passive. A lack of sleep is also associated with developmental disorders such as precocious puberty, due to insufficient melatonin secretions. People with inadequate sleep will have insufficient serotonin during the day, causing overly aggressive or insecure behavior. Japanese kids lead the world in staying up too late at night, with their many video games and the internet.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/iryou/renai/20050429sr11.htm

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