Why the internet is good

This is an article identifying the good points about the internet (main points are highlighted so you don't need to read the whole thing)

“When your kid’s grade-seven history teacher assigns her to do a biography of some obscure guy from Saskatchewan who no one has ever heard of, but he did some little thing relating to Confederation, believe me you’re glad to have the Internet.”

This from a friend of mine, who’ll get no argument from me. Though I sometimes think it would be nice if my kids were more adept at tracking down and combing through books for information (and often think it would be nice if our local library had more books to choose from), the array of information available now on the Internet has taken kids’ research capabilities to a whole new level. But what about outside of school work?

Cathy Wing, director of community programming with the Media Awareness Network in Ottawa, says parents tend to think the worst about their children’s computer time. “In focus groups we just went through, parents felt that every minute their kids spent online was this big waste of time. But many kids said they were actually doing a lot of research just on interests that they have. I thought that was a really good use of the technology.”

Louise McEwan, 14, agrees: “You can find out about all kinds of bands and music, movies, books. All the stuff I know about music can be found on one website.” My 12-year-old learned most of what he knows about caring for his pet rats online, and also bones up on rules and creatures for Dungeons & Dragons, an elaborate (non-computer) strategy game he enjoys with several friends.

Connie Varnhagen, professor of psychology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, points out that the information available on the Internet is especially valuable for kids living in remote areas. “It’s exposure to the world. You can dissect a cow’s eye. You can take a virtual tour of a Tibetan temple. There are much broader opportunities now for kids who may have limited access to other resources.” Varnhagen also adds that the emergence of online support groups can benefit teens as well as adults. “In our lab we are studying how people are using self-help websites. So for people who are self-injurers, or who have eating disorders, for example, the benefits of talking to like-people in the recovering process are just tremendous.”

Though parents may have mixed feelings about them, Varnhagen says, the social aspects of the Net are one of its greatest assets. “These discussion groups and message boards have allowed kids to expand way beyond the neighbourhood. They are communicating with kids in Indonesia, in South Africa. And as soon as we start being diverse in our social relationships, I think we become more tolerant.” (Chatrooms are not that bad) :)

Parents who worry about kids meeting predators on the Internet will be glad to know that real-time chat rooms are on the decline. “People don’t go on them as much as they used to at all,” says Louise. “These days, everything is about messenger services like MSN, which are not chat rooms. You add the people you want to talk with to your list; you don’t have to talk to anyone you don’t want to or don’t know.” Messenger services have changed the image of the lonely nerd hunched over the computer — most kids now, while online, are simultaneously “talking” to their friends.

“It is their social life,” says Wing. “They will boot up the computer and message their friends before picking up the phone. If you want to line up a movie date with eight friends, you don’t have to phone them all. It’s a great tool.” (you also save money on the phone bill)

social aspect allows kids to have fun together even when they can’t physically be together. “I can set up with my friend in Ottawa to meet up at a certain game site at a certain time,” explains my son. “I set up a new game and tell him the password, and then we can play it together.

Gaming, of course, is a big draw for kids and has all the addictive qualities that home gaming systems have. But again, their, a  friend is one thing. It’s the potential to interact with strangers that worries parents.  

 “There is the bad stuff,” acknowledges Varnhagen. “The cyber bullying. The predators — though very few of the people they are communicating with around the world are predators. What we need to do is teach our kids really good critical appraisal skills.” Wing agrees there is a definite role for parents to continue coaching kids on keeping themselves safe, reminding them, for example, not to give out any identifying information. “It’s the life experience and judgment you have that the kids don’t have — they can be naive, especially about online relationships.”

She cautions, however, against overreacting to negative incidents. “You know a lot of disturbing things happen and often kids are afraid to go to their parents because they think their parents will freak out and take them off the computer and not let them use it.” I think of friends of mine, who banned their son from the computer for several weeks when he came to them to tell them about a series of pornography ads that had suddenly crowded onto his screen. They assumed he’d been snooping around sex sites. It seemed a reasonable position to take until it happened to me — screen after screen of hard-core soli- citations, triggered apparently by my innocent visit to a mainstream portal.

So parents do need to exercise some vigilance, remind kids not to take foolish risks and set ground rules for acceptable use. But we should also acknowledge the good things this brave new world offers kids and its importance in their lives. As Louise says, “Rather than watching TV, you can actually be doing something more sociable than that — talking to your friends, playing games or listening to music isn’t bad!”