Children and the internet:

Ok, We all heard the stories about children online. In chat rooms, forums etc, being subjected to unspeakable things such as porn :O !. However blocking kids from going online is not the answer. Getting online is so easy these days that you cant stop them. By stopping them you are just making them more curious as to what it is you dont want them to see.

Personally. I have nothing against online porn. Heck i wish i could make as much money as the porn sites make, and the way I see it is, its better these girls are online in a secure room doing it than out on the street, personally. However, it is intended for adults, not young children, that I can agree with. The first problem with that is, what classifies you as an adult? Now in the United Kingdom, where I am originally from, you become an "adult" at 18. It appears in the States mind you, you dont get that luxury until your are 21. Personally the age of 18 is a fair age I think. I think its safe to say you can be called an adult at 18 and should be allowed to view whatever you want. But I dont make the laws, and so what I think is irrelevent. So if your under 18 I'm going to say, as thats the age in most countries, if your an American reader, im afraid you have a few more years to wait. So under 18 is a child in the online world. OK, well it's impossible to stop a horny 16 year old looking at porn, its just not worth the effort. At least he is looking at sexy young women and not having sex with them at that moment in time!

Children however, young children, dont need to be subjected to it. However, children are children, and they will stumble across these things, or try and find them, because they want to know, its "bad" so must be good. So how do you protect your children online, but yet still give them unlimited access to the huge world of the Internet? Quite simple, keep it huge, just not quite as big as it really is.

It is possible to get software that will "block" unwanted sites. This is fine, and they work fairly well, unfortunately they do this by keywords. This works great, if you dont want your child to be able to access hundreds of other sites that are perfectly innocent. SEX. there this site is now being blocked by hundreds of parents who use free "prental guidance" software because it contains the word sex. Or worse still by parents who spent large amounts of money on this software. See it may be the easy way out, but it doesnt work properly. Now if you want to use software to stop your child getting onto these sites then fine, but a better way is to use URLs or web addresses and block those. That way your child can get to all the websites, except those you dont want them to get to. Your software, im sure, has a way in which to block different URLs. All you have to do is go to Yahoo! search or something and type the word "sex" that will then bring up pretty much all websites which are porn, you can then just add them to your list. Adding more specific words to be blocked works well too. hardcore words which only really have 1 meaning, im sure you know what words im talking about, so I wont list them, but avoid general words like sex, hardcore, porn etc. Cause many sites use those words innocently, and that site could be just the site your child needs for the assignment at school.

A more effective way is to let them see. At the end of the day, most porn sites these days require you have a credit card in order to get on and see anything "explicit" now i dont know many 10year olds with a credit card. If they have yours, well then thats a different problem. But let them see, they will soon find out, theres not much really to see and wont be interested anymore. its no longer "bad" there for its no fun. Its impossible to hide a child from porn these days. Its on the TV, Web, Magazines, heck you can even watch it through the back window of a BMW in New York these days. Contrary to popular belief, it isnt easy to download hardcore movies, or anything like that. try it, try and download some hardcore. you wont get much, and if you do, anyone with any idea at all about the computer will know you have it. Sure you can see pictures, sure might be naked women in them, but so? open up The Sun newspaper to page 3 theres a naked woman. Personally. Think back to when you were a child. Now by child i am refering to kids aged from around 10 to 16. Obviously younger children need to be shielded from it as best as possible, but a 10year old boy is going to be interested. Why hold him back. hes going to see it sooner or later. I dont agree with teaching kids sex is bad, sex is sin. sex is why you, me and everyone else is alive today, whats bad about that? (ok maybe some parts are bad) instead of covering your childs eyes and trying to lock them away from the real world, teach them the importance of safe sex, correct sex. So that they can have a healthy interest in it, and understand it, that way when they are older and hormones start to go crazy they wont be so "clueless" on it all that they are desperate to go out and try it. They will know what its about, and appreciate it more. not only does it mean you dont have a pregnant 14year old daughter, but also means they wont grow up regretting things they did in the past. Dont bore them with all the bad sides of it. I hated sex ed, as all it went on about was how bad it was, and how if you have sex you are going to be in trouble. Yes Viruses and pregnancies are not a good thing, and do need preventing, and all children should be aware of it, but there are good sides too, which they know exist, and they want to find out about. 2 choices, you tell them about it, or they find out themselves.

So basically, yes porn is for adults not children, but at the end of the day, its a part of the internet, you can protest and complain all you want, the porn industry is the most successful online industry in the world, it isnt going anywhere. to much money is made for it to disapear, so its time to learn to live with it and use it to your advantage instead of fighting a losing battle.