Are Our Children Safe?

PBS Frontline released a documentary, "Growing Up Online," about the cyberspace and the dangers of the availability the Internet has among teenagers. It touches on bases of cheating, online chat rooms, forums, social networking sites (i.e. Facebook, Myspace), predators lurking online, cyberbulling and a whole lot more. As I begain to watch this documentary, I began to think about my unborn children - one day I will have child(ren), and I began to think by that time the Internet will be even more prevalent then it is now. I cannot imagine what the next break through idea on the world wide web will be. Chances are, it will be even more accessible.

One question that I consistently thought about: Is our children safe? Dateline: To Catch a Predator with Brian Williams is on TV frequently updating the public how many predators they've caught in the last X months. It is for sure that there are child predators because Brian Williams said so. However, the Internet has also become an escape for teenagers. It has become a separate world where they can be whoever they choose or be the true person that they are on the inside and express. The world wide web has become another realm of expression for all and any that are in need of it. One of the interviewee said, "The Internet is a very willing listener." And that is so true. Has the Internet made our teenagers into cyber-junkies robots who can only express ourselves through an optic wire?

Our teenagers are sharing more and more of themselves on the Internet. Another interviewee said, "Acting on impulse that is when things get into trouble." The fact of the matter is I was a teenager once and I did spontaneous things as well, however, I never had digital camera or YouTube to display to the world how free I could be. When you are a teenager, if you post that video, you might not be able to get your dream college or job. It sticks with you. Who'd knew that one button and cause so much consequence.

What about the parents, don't get a say in this? When I was a teen, I had episodes where I believe that my mom didn't understand me or I felt lonely and depressed. Every time my mom asked me something, or stop me from going out. or ask me who are theses "friends" that I keep telling her that I am hanging out with - I always tell her they are just my friends. She was so worried, just like the parents in this video. A parent said, "I remember having secrets, but it is really hard when you are on the other side." I understand why my mother was so overbearing, because I am starting to feel the internet is a bad commodity. But can we blame the Internet? If we cannot, then who do we blame? Who do we blame for the children that hang themselves in the bathroom or closet? Who do we blame for these deaths? Can we blame anyone?

Speaking of Cyberbullying, there was a report that a mother posed as a teenage boy on Myspace and began talking to a girl at her son's school that rejected him. It was a messy revenge on Myspace and the mom began to bully the girl; eventually she commited suicide in her closet.

Are we no longer safe? Not even in our own house? Has our home turn into a place of distress from a safe haven? What are we going to do about this? Remember, I was one of those teenagers that were online and in chat rooms talking to strangers. Yet I knew what was right from wrong. How well a child behaves is a reflection of the abillities the parents to teach their child. If parents believe in their abilities to foster and nurture their children, and they believe they have done the best job possible, then shouldn't they trust them to make good judgements? That's what I will do. Trust them by trusting myself that I am a competent parent and believe my children know the difference between good and evil, right and wrong. But I will always have that question that lingers in the back of my mine: Do I true know everything about my own flesh and blood?