Yonit Shames
Published: February 22, 2006
The headline says it all: “Teens at Risk on Web Sites, Experts Say.” The dangerous, predator-magnet that the Internet has allegedly become takes the heat for murders and other heinous crimes.
The top Associated Press story hit a few days ago, citing various experts who offer networking websites such as MySpace.com as the cause of several recent sexual assaults on teenage girls.
Certainly, incidents like these are tragic, and they may be expedited by the Internet. MySpace does allow people to connect- and it does provide predators with an opening into which they may be able to come in contact with a potential victim.
But just like the crusades against Marilyn Manson and Eminem- opponents claimed that their “violent” music incited school shootings- these claims completely miss the point. This time it’s MySpace.com that’s responsible for teens “finding trouble.” Where exactly does guardian responsibility fit into this equation?
Of course, parents indeed worry about their teens meeting predators on the Internet. It was parental pressure, no doubt, that led a school in Newark, N.J. to order that all students close their Internet blogs.
But banning a problem is a far cry from actually finding a solution to it. Banning blogs shows precisely that many educators and parents have no idea where the real problem lies.
As tempting as it is to blame sexual predators for Internet-related assaults on teens, the real problem is that teens are offered very little guidance pertaining to their Internet activities. They are simply told it’s wrong to meet people they find online and that bad things could happen if they do it. Since when has a statement like that prevented any teenager from doing anything?
Take teen pregnancy, for example. Some of the counties with the highest teenage pregnancy rates are those that do not offer sex education to their high schoolers.
The issue is not condoning pre-marital sex, which is what many opponents of sex education make it out to be. The issue is that sex education gives teens the tools with which to neutralize the damage that they incur when they make their choices.
Counties that do not acknowledge that possibility and choose not to face it eventually are forced to handle the consequences, in the form of sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies.
Parents seem to have a hard time grasping that despite what they say, teens will still make their own decisions. That’s what teenagers do; they come into adulthood by starting to shape their own lives. This is why making sweeping bans without providing any real information pertaining to the reasoning behind them is completely ineffective.
Teens are not stupid. They will not be fooled by arguments like “I said so,” and it’s about time that we stop pretending that they will.
Instead of employing scare tactics, why not accept the fact that teens will make their own choices and act accordingly? Why not start teaching them how to ensure their own safety? They should be learning how to ask smart questions of those they meet online to minimize their chances of being duped. They should be taught the importance of having someone, preferably an older friend or an adult, with them when they meet someone they came in contact with online.
When parents and educators won’t admit that teens may still make choices they deem unwise, they are unable to protect them when they do.
The issue that should be addressed is not the dangers of the Internet; it’s the dangers of thinking that the Internet is the real problem.