Internet Safety by Sean Bennett

Do you struggle to keep up with your Childs internet activities? Well you’re not alone. A survey in 2006 found two thirds of parents could not define a blog- a diary website - that welcomes strangers to comment on the net.

Many parents don’t understand the danger of chat rooms and ask what they can do to prevent their child from becoming a target. One answer is a firewall which can be set to block children from accessing these personal websites. A firewall is software used to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network (Block unwanted guests) which can be bought from a number of electronic stores.

Grooming is a term used to describe what happens when someone pretends to be someone else who has the same particular taste, for example, in music. They then interact with their contact to obtain their personal details and to subsequently meet them. People who do this are usually classified as paedophiles that often target young children.

However “bullying” is a lot more common in the net with people writing threats, harassment and teasing. If you follow the story of David Knight’s internet hell he tells us that he suffered taunts teasing and humiliation. He tells us every time he logged on to the internet he was bombarded with abusive messages. But the final blow was when someone had set up an abusive website that made his life unbearable. Rather then 5-10 kids shouting taunts at you, it’s up there for 6 billion people to see.

However, I believe the internet can be a wonderful source of information for young people which enables them to communicate with their friends, teachers and play interactive games. Precautions should be taken to ensure the safety of the child. For example, a parent should always be around the child when they are surfing the net and chatting to people. There are dangers out there but they don’t need to be so troublesome that you cannot use the internet!