Parents Should Monitor The Internet Essay

1024 Words3 Pages

“Parents play an important role in the psychosocial development and well-being of their children” (van den Eijnden). Undeniably, the quote makes a bold declaration that all parents in today’s technologically advanced society should understand and follow. With 90% of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 15 using the internet (Sorbring), it is important for an adult to monitor their daily usage and behavior. “Only 39 percent of parents report using parental controls for blocking, filtering, or monitoring their teenager’s online activities” (Dell’anotnia). Parents should monitor their teenagers’ daily internet use and behavior by engaging in meaningful conversations and dialogue that allow for fostering a healthy relationship. Parents have many …show more content…

According to Jaana Juvonene, between 50 percent and 70 percent of the teenagers between 12 and 17 years of age have experienced bullying and threats on the Internet. According to another study, only 10% of those who have suffered bullying informed an adult about the experiences (Juvonene). The percentage of those teenagers who actually told an adult is a very scary number in a world filled with violence and hate. Parents who monitor their teenagers’ internet usage have a much better chance of being aware of these occurrences and have the opportunity to advise and assist the teenagers in decisions on how to handle the situation both physically and …show more content…

These individuals feel that it is an invasion of the teenagers’ right to privacy and the development of their trustworthiness. Kay Mathieson states “only by giving children privacy will they come to see their thoughts as something that belongs to them – to which they have an exclusive right.” In the United States and according to the law, monitoring the internet usage of a minor does not break any laws and is a moral obligation of the parent. Trustworthiness is an important development of a child to learn in order to develop genuine relationships with others in the lifetime. “Not only does monitoring have the great potential to undermine the trust of the child in the parent, and thus to undermine trust in others more generally, it also has the potential to undermine the capacity of the child to be worth of trust” (Mathieson). If the parent has not already had conversations with the teenager about monitoring internet usage and the parent is not telling the child about the monitoring, there is already an issue with the development of trustworthiness in the teenager. There was already a failure of development of this skill before the internet or internet monitoring was introduced. Emma Sorbring stated it best when she said that a teenager would be willing to disclose their experiences with their parents if they have always had good experiences talking things over with them and

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