Be careful, be very careful
Whatever happened to boardgames?
I am sitting at the home of my cousin with her 3 children and husband and I can’t stop thinking about how the world has changed with the introduction of technology; computers, iphones, ipods and internet.
Here we have children aged 10, 12 and 14 – one is watching foxtel in her bedroom, another a movie and the eldest is on her iphone typing madly away on facebook.
Turn the clock back 10 years; the internet was not in every home, foxtel wasn’t either and no-one, least of all me, would have thought that they would be on social network that is larger than google, telling people what they ate for breakfast. Who would have thought?
What is alarming is that with children and adults there is now a blurred line as to what they have access to. Any child on the internet can now have access to nude photographs of men and women, there are cyber criminals and there are social networks.
The latter, I feel, is the more dangerous. Here children are exposed to advertisements ranging from condoms (children don’t need to know about this until they are a certain age), strippers (definately don’t need to know about this) and meeting their perfect match (now really!!!!).
My facebook page now gets updates on who are the children’s daily lovers!!! How did this happen? Is there no boundaries to what social networks and the internet expose to children. You could say that children shouldn’t be on facebook, but if all of their friends are, isn’t it mean to not allow them. It’s hard enough being a teenager without being different.
All I can say is to all parents out there, be careful, be very careful as to what your children know about things you may have thought were hidden under the blanket.
Those advertising online, luring our young into the doldrums of darkness or 18 lives are marketing their way into the lives of our families.
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Christina Nguyen
07 Sep 2015Such a familiar topic in my household. I grew up in an age where social media was growing along with me. It was something parents, especially my Vietnamese parents could barely comprehend. "Don't talk to anyone online, Don't put your images on Facebook, Stop using your computer!" It's the same weekly conversation and I admit, I saw things on the web that I didn't want to , or wasn't suppose to, and whether it was intentional or not, I do now know how dangerous and scary the internet can be.
ReplyThere's no practical way to fix the issue, it's not about removing everything that can cause the problem but preparing your kid with open conversations and a strong relationship to know how to handle when the wrong thing pops up on their screen. As I'm getting older and I imagine what having a kid would be like in ten or so years time, I feel like I would be even more baffled than my parents were as technology continues to grow exponentially every year and I will keep this post in mind.