Information has long been sought out by many generations throughout time. It isa powerful tool that has often been hard to find, until the evolution of theInternet. The Internet has brought the world to the fingertips of millionsworld-wide. What used to take days or years to find, a person with the knowledgeand ability may find in mere minutes of searching on the Internet.
But alongwith the value it brings, there are also many dark sides. Pornography, stalkers,hackers, and other forms of evil are also prowling the Internet, many times onchildren. Millions of households are now connected to the informationsuperhighway, with many of the parents “computer illiterate.” These parentsrely on their children’s knowledge of computers and the Internet to show themthe ropes.
Often times the freedom that the children are given on the Internetis put to good use in educational activities, such as games, chatting, andtutorials on any subject that they may encounter in school. Parents oftensupervise their children while they are on-line, but there are some times thatchildren are able to get connected, such as when the children have the computerin their room. Without the proper supervision, children can often times findvulgar material on the Internet. They might innocently click on a banner that isadvertising on a web-site that looks safe, but often times these banners can bea link to a site with elicit material. The children were drawn in by theattractive banner to a site that is not meant to be viewed by them. This is alsotrue for many of the chat rooms that they might wander into where pedophiles maybe lurking, often lying about their age to get close to the children.
Althoughthere are many misleading and improper sites on the Internet, the overall valuecannot be looked past. The information provided to children of today is fargreater than what was offered just a few years ago. Children are now given anadvantage that many adults did not have. I believe that children growing up in ahome with and Internet connection have a definite advantage, as long as they areproperly supervised and warned of the evils lurking in cyberspace.
