Forums / Discussion / Serious Debate

From what I see about it. I say no. As most children don't have the maturity to handle some situations the net has.

I don't really have anything else to really say/prove. But it's just my opinion, either way.

Yes, becuase the internet can be fun and enlightening.

No, because the internet can be dangerous and brutal.

But so can sidewalk.

It is an inevitably they will find porn on the Internet.
So I will let my kids go on but only on websites that are safe using a website restriction software.

I think yes.

Seriously: the internet is a wonderful source of education and learning, as well as a good boredom killer.

Though IMO like what Eurofighter said, they should be restricted little. Website restriction software can prevent children from going on 18+ sites, as well as sites that need a degree of maturity to participate in.

I also think that children should be taught basic online etiquette and to avoid the bad side of the internet until they themselves are mature enough.

I have mixed feelings about this….

I definitely think children should have access to the Internet…. But I know by experience that a kid could easily corrupt their minds by stumbling into some sexy vid or a porn site, it's why I'm a walking mass of lust and weird fetishes today.

So by that logic, I should be saying that kids show be able to go on the Internet but have restrictions….

But….

Having websites and stuff blocked, or having your internet activity monitored sucks ass, so I honestly would rather say :"Let kids surf the Internet without any restrictions or supervision and just hope for the best."

As long there is no trouble….sure.
But we need to have restrictions.

The Internet has the ability to take away your mental virginity repeatedly, if I had children probably for the first few months of use I'd restrict it as much as I could while teaching them about the pros and cons extensively until I feel they're completely "ready" they're bound to be shocked sooner or later but at least it won't be that bad (I hope…)

Absolutely. I've seen no actual evidence that kids stumbling across mature content on the web can be solidly linked to actual lasting issues- only "think of the children" fear mongering. And I wouldn't want my kids to think that my default is not trusting them. Of course, none of this applies to young kids; it's fine to give them some time to grow up and figure out what the hell they're doing before giving them free reign. Anywhere from about ten to twelve is probably the best time to give them the "you can trust me, I won't judge you, talk to me whenever you want" speech and let 'em have at it. Remember, parents today are likely to actually have in-depth knowledge of this stuff that they can use to their advantage.

As someone who pretty much grew up on completely unrestricted Internet access, I never unintentionally came across any porn or anything upsetting. I said a lot of things I wouldn't now but it isn't anything closing my eyes and burying the shame can't handle. My family is also really open so if I came across something I shouldn't have and asked about it, my parents would just explain it and I usually didn't have any interest in it beyond an explanation anyway.

So that's how it will be for my kids. I hated feeling like my parents didn't trust me just because I was young, and I told them that.

From my experiences starting to use the Internet during my teenage years, I think what I left for the Internet has made more negative impact on me than what I viewed during that time. But I don't know if the same is true for a child.

As long as Jr. isn't getting into anything dangerous or blatantly illegal, I don't see any big reasons he can't go on the internet. Sure, there's a lot of messed up stuff on it, but same goes for reality depending on where you live.

Kid's usage of the internet should be monitored at least a little bit to avoid the aforementioned dangerous and/or illegal stuff, but kids shouldn't be completely banned form it until whatever age. For all it's faults, the internet has a lot of upsides. You can connect with people around the world in seconds, learn new things with the greatest of ease, and even get a school education from it. It's by no means perfect, but it has many positives.

To be honest, if I ever had kids I'd probably keep it away while they're very young but other than that I'd let them do what they want. Sometimes people underestimate what kids know. Chances are even without the internet your 10 years old knows sex exists. And I know as a late teenager I hate it when my parents are distrusting of me. I'm almost 17 and to this day they feel the need to remind me to not tive out my personal info and to not get phished etc. As I said since my parents have severe trust issues, from a personal stand point I'd trust them at a relatively young age. Not too young though because for one I don't want them to become too reliant on it and for them to develop a sense of imagination and to read and expand their brains, exercise, socialize, etc. But yeah if they're already somewhat old I'd let them go nuts. If they're 12 seeing some porn of bad words isn't going to destroy their future. Public school already does that.

A blanket ban of the Internet for a child is just stupid. For one thing, these days a vast source of educational material is found on the Internet and a lot of schools use the Internet extensively for kids to do work. Not to mention that it's one of the prime methods for them to communicate with friends these days.

However, it's certainly a good idea to have some kind of blocker to restrict access to 18+ content (If you live in Britain that's not hard to get, har har) Especially because with quite a few kids, first times with stuff like that , whether it's porn, gore, or whatever other thing, will be by accident.

I don't agree with anything that involves spying on everything they're doing though. They have the same rights to privacy as adults have. Just because they're hiding what they get upto online doesn't mean they're sneaking in a session on rule34 or something else like that. Of course, they should be reminded that if something bad happens to them online, like they get bullied or get sent porn or gore or whatever, that they can talk to their parents about it.

its the parents' responsibility to keep their child from some things on the internet.
If they want to not allow them at all, that is their business
if they want them to have free reign its their business.

I may not want to hear them screaming on the mic, but its not my place to raise someone else's kid.

The thing that should be remembered is what YOU did on the Internet when you were younger and how that affected you.

But I think teaching children of the consequences of what happens when you post something on the Internet would be recommended.

I joined adult internet social wneh i was a little child. But I didn't annoy or rage like some 12 years old kiddos

Kiddos should be allowed. Just control 'em.

I'd say yes for children and teenagers being allowed on the internet.
Online games, on the other hand…

I've been on the internet since i was 9 (created my neopets account 10 years ago!) and i don't see any reason why kids shouldn't be allowed on. I made lots of friends on neopets and discovered anime and memes and etc.
Its not like children are just stumbling onto sites like 4chan.

i did not find any reason why kids should not be allowed. Because internet is a great source of all resources. I agree we can learn both good and bad from internet but it is upto the person. Because kids are not well matured they need to be monitored. It should be done by either parents or teachers.

A part of me wants to say no, but only because I'm an kid-hating asshole. Ignore that part of me

The rest of me believes in unrestricted internet. I am wholly against any kind of government level measure installed to regulate who's sees what on the internet, even if that's kids.

Let's begin with an analogy: It's not the TV's job to detect if kids just switched from the cartoons to the porn channels and lock itself automatically. It's the parent's job to moderate the childs TV watching.

Likewise, when it comes to what kids can see on the internet, I believe that responsibility is 5% that of the visited website and 95% that of the parents

Websites that know they have content they need to restrict should put up a few barriers and many already do this with age confirmations, but otherwise it comes down to the parents of the children to make sure that their internet access is as kid proof as everything else in the house is. It's not up to ISP's or government to make that call otherwise it becomes a problem for everyone else including those who don't have kids.

Parents can and should make their own decisions in regards their childrens access to the internet. They know what's best for their own kid. There are plenty of places on the web that are fantastic resources for children. They can be beneficial for your child's learning. But if you don't want your kids going from child friendly sites to anywhere that isn't, you can keep an eye on them or use filtering software. Or if you don't want your kids to use the internet at all, ban them from the computer. Either way that's your call as a parent.

As a long time internet veteran, I'm a strong advocate that parents supervise very young children on the internet. This is without a doubt the best way to protect your kids.

The same applies to online gaming too. Nearly every game recommends adult supervision when young kids are playing online.

Yes. The internet is, quite literally, the future: a massive database of all the world's knowledge. If children were to be restricted from that, it would severely limit what they could learn. If they come across something inappropriate, well… that's their fault.

Here is how this restriction software works. It only allows websites that are on the White list. If my child wants go on a website he/she will ask for my permission to put it on the White list. If he wants 'pornhub' to be on the White list I will refuse his request.

I will also not let my child access google images (and you know exactly).

@Eurofighter Typhoon
may i ask why you'd restrict it? I highly doubt a 10 year old is going to just stumble upon pornhub.
And if they are young, and stumble onto something they shouldn't, they'll very quickly learn.
poor 13 year old self who didn't know what lemonparty was.

@poochyena if you read my post you would see

It only allows websites on the Whitelist

That means it will block websites that it does not recognise on the whitelist unless I put it on the whitelist. Infact I have this algorithm on my iPhone. It is really effective.

As someone who grew up on the internet, the fact that my parents trusted me at a young age to handle the internet responsibly meant everything to me and I want to give the same opportunity to my children.

I'm also of the opinion that children are made of tougher stuff than we give them credit for. So they might accidentally stumble upon a porn site, is that really going to be the end of the world as we know it? Obviously children on the internet should be under some form of supervision and parental blocks should be used, but children and minors aren't going to learn how to use the internet responsibly unless we actually let them use the internet and learn for themselves. If you heavily restrict your child, they will eventually lash out and rebel and do all the stupid things online that you told them not to do.

@Eurofighter:

You are aware safe search exists and is actually pretty effective unless you use very specific inappropriate search terms, right?

@crimson locks

I block google images but not websearch. Because you can get porn off safesearch if you choose words carefully. For example I once searched "tentacles" on images and it came up with hentai.

I will not block websearch because it becomes a lot more difficult to browse the web.

Absolutely, so long as there's proper parental supervision.

Eurofighter Typhoon said:

…using a website restriction software.

Out of curiosity, do you block Wikipedia? Because I can't tell you the number of times I've looked up stuff like "smegma" wondering what the hell it was and was met with a 1080p HD picture of someone's erect penis.

I’m also of the opinion that children are made of tougher stuff than we give them credit for. So they might accidentally stumble upon a porn site, is that really going to be the end of the world as we know it?

Actually this is my exact opinion. I believe society makes nudity and sexuality to be more taboo than it really needs to be. I don't believe that explicit imagery is as damaging as it is made out to be.

The first time I saw a real vagina was when I was 4. I walked straight into a womens changing room at a swimming pool and saw pussy galore. Surprisingly most of the women there didn't give a damn, and neither did I. I didn't think a thing of what I was seeing. Never had any nightmares from that

All throughout primary school, I still saw plenty of nudity from late night TV. Again my reaction to porn as a child was normally "ew", not "AAAAAAAAAH!"

However I'm no parent and I know most parents out there think very differently from me. In fact I am aware that most would freak the fuck out if their kids gazed upon an inkling of flesh. I'm not one to judge there. If parent want to keep their kids away from sex, that's perfectly in their right. So my post above waived my own bias and still addressed the matter from the perspective of mature content being bad for kids

I'm against it in theory, not because of what the kinds might find, but because of what they might do. Stuff on the internet doesn't go away, and it's pretty easy for kids to do stupid shit there, especially now with all the websites asking for your real name. On the other hand, I don't think it's realistic to stop them from getting access to it, so meh.

Do you think you yourself should've been denied access to the internet at a young age? If no, then there's your answer.

Yes.