Parental Monitoring Issue

Yulia Luhtanova Luhtanova 1
Debora Loomis
ESLW-310 November 26, 2013
Parental Monitoring Issue
Technology has become a very important part in our every day life. In most parts of the world, people use different kinds of computers, smartphones, and tablets. Since the Internet became popular, has been used by children. According to Lucy Battersby, Dr. Campbell, the senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Sydney, said, "the social media sites favored by children, such as Moshi Monsters, Club Penguin and Stardoll, are monitored by parents and primarily used for games. However, Dr. Campbell was alarmed to see up to 31 percent of children under 11 had used Facebook, particularly if this replaced face-to-face interaction." When children reach puberty, they are beginning to use social networks. However, children can use the Internet improperly. The Internet in general as well as cell phones create many problems for children and parents. Children may be exposed to different dangers and troubles. Parents should monitor their children while they are using the Internet to see how they use it.
As soon as children begin to use the Internet, parents should supervise them. They can put a computer in the living room to watch what their children are doing. When the parent is near, a child won't be surfing the web. Parents should know what sites their children surf, how much information about themselves they put onto the Internet, what kind of pictures they share with other people, and what the content of messages they use. When parents know all these things, they will know what their children are thinking about and in what way they should educate their prevent them from making bad decisions. Parents should monitor their children, so they do not go meeting with strangers in real life who they first met on the Internet because a kind and good-looking man or woman from social networks may actually turn out to be a criminal.
Parents also should protect their children from other dangers on the web. Parents should supervise their children because they may be exposed to cyberbulling. Cyberbullying is when a person is being humiliated, harassed, and threatened through the Internet and cellphones. When children use social sites without any limitation, they more likely to be victim of cyberbullying. Lucy Battersby says, "The teenagers most likely to be cyber-bullied were females aged between 12 and 17 who used Facebook daily. And 38 percent of people had ended a friendship over their bad experience, 32 percent had a face-to-face confrontation and 41 percent has felt 'nervous about going to school the next day.'" These numbers once again prove that children should not use the Internet without parental control. They cannot adequately respond to threats from the Internet. For instance, if teenagers were subjected to cyberbullying, they are often afraid to tell anyone about their problem and seek help. They may enter into a state of depression and could go as far as committing suicide. If parents monitor children, they will be able to notice strange things in the child's behavior and act on time to prevent irreversible consequences.
Some critics believe that teenagers as well as adults can control all their actions. Therefore, when teenagers find out that their parents supervise them, they get angry and want to have their private life. Of course teenagers want their privacy. They want to communicate with who they want and to do what they want. They think that they already have grown up and can control their lives by themselves. Children conflict with parents trying to prove that they are. However, practice shows that teenagers do not fully understand that they are doing something wrong. According to Judith Woods, "Recent research by the NSPCC revealed that sexting is so widespread as to be considered mundane. Girls as young as 13 send topless and naked photographs on their mobile phones without hesitation, regarding it as a form off flirtation." The research shows that teens do not think that they are doing something improper, and it means that we can't put them on the same level as adults. When teenagers know that parents find out everything about what they do, they won't send obscene photos and write obscene messages. If parents begin to monitor their children while they are still young, they won't meet any aggression from their children. Even though parents have a good relationship with their teens, they should always check what their children are doing.
To be the parents of a teenager is not easy. In different ways, parents should protect their children from any harm, even if it is by monitoring or spying. Adolescence is a difficult period of time in the lives of parents and children. They have to live through this time together. Only with co-operation and understanding each other can they go through all the difficulties of adolescence.