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Teenagers and the Internet

theguardian.com

1–10 of 125 posts

Re: Teenagers and the Internet

#4
I'm a teenager, and from my own experience, teenagers will do idiotic things even without the Internet. Pointing the finger at the Internet for parents' problems with their children is an easy thing to do because the Internet can't defend itself, especially as a whole.

Re: Teenagers and the Internet

#6
post #3
post #2

[deleted]

Would you like to explain why? Saying "Lost me right there" doesn't give any information on WHY it lost you.

oops, sorry. I didn't finish that comment then decided to delete it... but, here it is:

CTRL+F this sentence: We have to start asking why they are not being made responsible for it.

Lost me right there; that whole paragraph. Sure, talking about what's on the internet to young people is important and should be done. It's one thing for internet-companies to remove content that has been reported and deemed a ToS violation or illegal, but we don't need people turning their personal beliefs/ethics/etc into proactive-internet-filters. I don't exactly love the content on stormfront.org, but I'm not asking the webhost or my ISP or anyone to shut it down or filter it because ThinkOfTheChildren/Terrorists/current-boogeyman. I feel the article focuses a lot on the "problems" with the internet and not so much the problem of parents not ensuring the children have a "balanced"(whatever that means) world view.

disclaimer/preempt: I have a daughter.

Re: Teenagers and the Internet

#7
It's interesting, the Internet has become a micro-society and people are beginning to have expectations that the major players have a responsibility to perform a similar service as that of a government (contributing resources to fight child porn as the example made), whilst also expecting governments to rule it. Can we have it both ways? And should we expect that as a norm?

The internet doesn't have a morality, it's a tool and usage is defined clearly by the user. The fact that more teenage boys are accessing pornography and have warped approaches to conventional relationships is a problem, but how much of a problem is it due to the internet? My generation (approaching 30) were among the first to have always on, reasonably high speed internet and yes that did mean easy access to pornography but despite that the majority of us are in long term relationships.

I think there's a lot to be made of how the internet has impacted modern society, but it doesn't exist in a single point of impact. There's also a dozen other factors that have to be taken into account, ranging from parents being less available due to increased workloads to an education system that's not encouraging people to want to learn.

Re: Teenagers and the Internet

#8
Both The Guardian and The Daily Mail, who enjoy huge web audiences, and who campaign passionately for freedom of the press, also campaign incessantly against freedom of expression on the internet, giving our politicians the wide political grip they need to clamp down on technology. It's ironic how much these two papers can be alike sometimes.

Re: Teenagers and the Internet

#9
post #4

I'm a teenager, and from my own experience, teenagers will do idiotic things even without the Internet. Pointing the finger at the Internet for parents' problems with their children is an easy thing to do because the Internet can't defend itself, especially as a whole.

In the 60's the teenager label emerged. These were just kids that had found a sense of community in sharing music, rebellion against the system, and unique dress. There's nothing new here. Teenagers will be rebellious, as they always have. If the older people in society find ways to prevent them from accessing material they want to see, they'll just find another way.

Teenagers have their own tastes in what the internet provides, and that interests/excites them, through social media, and other specific sites (like ask.fm). Nothing around this is new. Saying we should protect the poor teenagers is very demeaning to a group that are becoming adults, and protecting them by censorship helps no one in our society.

Re: Teenagers and the Internet

#10
post #4

I'm a teenager, and from my own experience, teenagers will do idiotic things even without the Internet. Pointing the finger at the Internet for parents' problems with their children is an easy thing to do because the Internet can't defend itself, especially as a whole.

Somehow I feel like these things happened even before the Internet (crazy idea, I know) but now we have documentation.
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