Today, many young children and teenagers utilize chat rooms and various social websites. In chat rooms, people are able to meet up and talk with others about various things. Sadly, this is a huge playground for sexual predators and people involved in the human trafficking business. The process usually begins with a predator finding an innocent and unsuspecting child to talk to. They then begin to get friendly with the child or teenager, and after various online conversations, they decide to meet up. Sexual predators and human traffickers use this method all the time to lure in children and teenagers. Once they meet up with the child, he or she is then (normally) sexually assaulted, kidnapped, and shipped off to an unknown place to be sold as a sex slave. The popular television show Dateline documents these types of happenings all the time. They set up unsuspecting predators which eventually leads to their arrest, and all of these instances begin online.
The internet is a big pool of information, and many people utilize it every day. Not all people are nice, though, and filled with good intentions, so when using the internet, many safety precautions should be taken. Some safety precautions include installing antivirus software, blocking certain websites, avoid inputting personal information, avoid sending pictures without consulting with an adult first, and avoid making plans to meet up with people. Also, young children should be monitored when using the internet, especially while visiting certain websites. This will help prevent many predators from ever coming into contact with them.
"YouTube - Dateline - To Catch a Predator - 8 - Long Beach, California." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 4 Feb. 2011
In my opinion, children 12 and under should not be on the computer unsupervised and be allowed to have social networking pages. The internet has so many fallacies and it is hard to keep adolescents off of a device that is imperative to our daily function. However; parents/guardians should educate their children on the dangers of the internet and drill it in their heads to not trust anyone and take precautions.
This does make a lot of sense. Anoyone can use the internet and it is never 100% safe. I have seen a few episodes of "Dateline: How to Catch A Predator" and it is amazing of how sex offenders are very diverse and some of their peers would not even know. Parents need to block certian sites fromt their children's computer or at least talk to them about the dangers of the Internet and strain from meeting strangers from chat rooms.
In my opinion, children 12 and under should not be on the computer unsupervised and be allowed to have social networking pages. The internet has so many fallacies and it is hard to keep adolescents off of a device that is imperative to our daily function. However; parents/guardians should educate their children on the dangers of the internet and drill it in their heads to not trust anyone and take precautions.
ReplyDeleteThis does make a lot of sense. Anoyone can use the internet and it is never 100% safe. I have seen a few episodes of "Dateline: How to Catch A Predator" and it is amazing of how sex offenders are very diverse and some of their peers would not even know. Parents need to block certian sites fromt their children's computer or at least talk to them about the dangers of the Internet and strain from meeting strangers from chat rooms.
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