Children and the Net essays

Children and the Net essays The U.S. created the Internet in the 1960s as a communications tool for the military, it was not until after the government opened it to the public in the late 1980s that the Internet became a unique phenomenon. Nobody could predict the speed by which people all over the world captured this new form of technological communication. In 1995, there were an estimated 56 million Internet users worldwide; by 1999, this figure topped over 200 million. This tremendous growth has caused something that our world has never seen before; for the first time in history, the governments of this planet are facing something that is larger than all of them combined . . . . .and they are terrified. Parents are terrified too, they are concerned that children are vulnerable to what they see and read on the Internet, therefore pornography, hate propaganda, and violent content are confusing the childrens mind and veering them to be emotionally destructive. Parents are concerned that the Internet makes pornographic, hateful, violent, profane and destructive content too easily accessible to their children. A wealth of information is readily available to those who possess the technological means to access and contribute to it. It is the place where "any person can become a town crier with a voice that resonates farther than it could from any soapbox" (Sheremata 22). This makes the Internet a very powerful and positive forum for free expression. Pornography is behind the counter at any local convenience store. The pornographic magazines may be there, but they are blocked and regulated to a certain age. Of course, children do not have access to this pornographic medium. They do, however, have easy access to the Net through their homes, schools, and libraries. The access eventually lures the children in, but if that access was not existent their sex drive would eventually diminish. ...