WHO'S TO BLAME?

It's Getting Tougher On The Kids

In my old posts, I had coverd story about what kids are exposed to in the adult world online. But when talking of children and the Internet, one also needs to consider what they are exposing online on social networking sites, for example, or videoosharing sites.

Statistics are available for some countries, which could be representative of the situation in others. In Britain, an alarming 61 per cent of children aged 13 to 17 have a personal profile on some social networking site. Alarming because some of them are giving out personal details. Some are showing off intimate photographs of themselves as part of their profile. Many are going on to physically meet people they've encountered online. Now consider that in conjunction with the fact that more than 50,000 sexual predators are estimated to be online at any given time.

Teachers and parents alike are now alarmed at how children are using the sites, including Bebo, Facebook, Friendster, and MySpace.

In Australia, a study has found that 40 per cent of teens "would" physically meet someone they'd met online, and that only 12 per cent would ask their parents permission to do so.

Bebo organises networks around schools, so predators have all they need-the schools' addresses along with the names, pictures, and ages of the kids on the site. And the kids are to blame, too, if kids can indeed be blamed: girls as young as 13 show pictures of themselves in sexual poses-semi-nude or in lingerie.

The phenomenon has not gone unnoticed: the sites are coming under scrutiny. A certain head teacher of a school in England actually called in police after she found that 700 of her students had signed up with Bebo, and that some were displaying indecent images. She wrote to parents about her concerns: "Most girls who have registered have included a potentially dangerous amount of personal detail. Some girls' photographs could only be described as soft pornography. "

In Australia, the New South Wales Police are said to be keeping an eye on the sites. According to media reports, the Internet unit is dealing with more and more reports from parents worried that their children had been approached online.

"You can't tell kids not to go online. It's part of their lives now," Sergeant Richard Long said. "But they need to be aware that ... people can look in and see exactly what they're doing."

It's tough on the kids of this, the Internet generation. Technology is enabling them to do things earlier generations couldn't, and it does look like at least some of them aren't aware of the dangers. Naturally, education and open discussion are the answers, but there's a growing disconnect between old-school parents and techhsavvy kids. Protecting children from pornography is one thing, but what is to be done when the kids actually want to be perceived as sexy?

There's not really much cause for concern in India: a 15-year-old girl here is rather unlikely to show off semi-nude pictures of herself online. But that's as of now. Who is to say what it will be like in urban India five years from now?

This issue, like many others, highlights the fact that there's more than just a generation gap between parents and today's children. This is a transitional time between the offline and the connected worlds. We can only suppose that things will iron themselves out as and when the transition is complete.

(Post Written on: 06/01/2008)