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I have noticed a strange phenomina lately. People I know are not allowed to go online because, and here I shall quote the reason: "The internet is bad for them." I find it fascinating that, for anyone under the age of adulthood, 'The Internet' has been placed on the list of all that is Big and Bad and Scary and Can Hurt You, Damnit!

Who the hell came up with that, psychotic, hair-brained idea, now? It sure as hell wasn't me. Or my parents for that matter.

Excuse me while I try to follow your logic:

The internet is bad for them for the following reasons:

1) Internet predators
2) Social networking
3) The availability of porn
4) It's rotting their brains like the television
5) Viruses
6) Spam
7) Deceptive marketing scams

I list those last three only because they were used as part of the answer when I asked people why they thought maybe the internet was bad. Not that it's bad for your children (not that I'm implying you have any you're probably reading this because you're hoping it will be funny) but that those things are bad about the internet in general.

Spam and Deceptive marketing scams: Let's face it. If you're children aren't getting overloaded on this sitting in front of the television then they're seeing it on billboards, signs, buses, in books, everywhere they look. It's called advertising. It gets viscious and annoying online sometimes but unless your child has some kind of irrational fear of spam it's not going to hurt them anymore than living in today's society does.

Viruses: Simple truth about viruses is that they can hurt your computer but can't hurt your child. If you're worried about that buy some virus software. If you're really worried about viruses, buy a Mac.

Rotting your child's brain: This is not true. This has never been true. It probably never will be true. If it was the internet would be viciously kept out of offices and banned from public places like smoking is in some states.

Porn: Yes, there is porn on the internet. Yes, there will be porn on the internet. Yes, your child will find porn on the internet. Personally I'm not really sure why this worries parents. Assuming your child's IQ is above that of a peanut they're not going to try most of the stuff in pornos at home. (Or at all, for that matter. Statistic: Most children learn the difference between fantasy and reality by the age of seven.)
Think about it. Children of a certain age like porn. They are going to get their hands on it somehow. Would you rather they: A) Watch others for educational and entertainment purposes B) participate in sex acts C) Steal porn from your collection D) Steal money from you to buy porn or E) Harmlessly look it up on the internet?
Limiting your child's access to the internet is not going to change whether or not they look at porn. Besides, aside from work, what is it that you do online?
Again, if you were actually worried about your child's physical well-being you would sit down and talk to them about stuff instead of simply denying it's existence.

Social networking: Okay, so the social networking sites have a bad rap. Yes, the people on television did come up with some horribly vivid examples of where stuff that happened on them led to physical violence and even death. These are rare and extreme cases. The odds of this actually happening to your child are so low as to be disregarded. If you want to lower the odds even further then simply follow this advice: Talk to your child about the dangers. That's all it takes. Really.

Internet predators: Yes, I am trying to keep things light in this article and this is a very heavy subject to tackle er... lightly. Again the lovely tv shows came up with awful examples of young adults who were victimized by internet predators. This cannot be brushed away lightly. It did happen. Some young adults were raped or even killed. I can think of three cases off the top of my head. I'm sure there were a dozen newsworthy cases across the united states. I'm not going to say it can't happen. I'm not going to say it wont happen. But I think you could have a little more faith in your child.
Steps to keep internet predators away from your child:
1) Make your child aware of the dangers
2) Make sure your child understands not to give out personal information online
That's it. Now your child is safe. After all the statistics about the young adults who were victimized they came out with a new set. The children who were victimized were reaching out for a contact online. You may not believe it but they wanted to have sex. They probably did not intent it to go so far but that doesn't mean it would have happened if they hadn't wanted something.

Here's something we don't want to do: You do not want to forbid the internet! Why? It becomes forbidden fruit. The simple fact that it is forbidden will make them want it more. Take drugs. Or smoking. Or alcohol. They're all illegal at the very least for a certain age group. Do you know what that means? The people that can't have them want them and they're going to get them. If you forbid the internet your child is going to get it somehow, and believe me, they wont be using it for educational purposes.

You all know the conventional benefits of the internet let's look at those and some others you wont have thought of:

1) Research. Educational purpose.
2) Online your children have access to museums and libraries all over the world.
(Stop scoffing. I can hear you scoffing. They really do use them.)
3) Instant access to the latest news and events. Plus you can look up news that interests you instead of all that crap they have on television.
4) The ability to talk to friends and family, near and far, instantly.
5) Shop without leaving your chair. (Maybe this doesn't appeal to you, maybe you don't want your child to do it that doesn't mean it's not considdered a benefit of the internet.)
6) Consumer research. (You can check out items you want, items you don't want, items you don't think exist, and find the best deals.)
7) Entertainment. Enough said.
cool Trivial knowledge. Something pops into your head. You can look it up.
9) The ability to pretend to be someone else (or their true selves) safely. Fantasy is underrated.
10) Using the internet can improve your child's typing skills, literacy, reflexes and make them more computer saavy. Denying them the use of a computer with internet is like telling them their future life (when they out of your care) and job is not important to you. Of course, that's just my opinion, but that doesn't make it untrue.

Okay, so yes this article has a slant, what doesn't? Nothing you've ever read. Yes I realize I'm somewhat insulting and mocking. But true. I do try to tell the truth. And hey, look, I wouldn't have known any of the cool stuff I pointed out about the internet if I wasn't allowed to use it.