Chapter 1
Kids Online - Pros and Cons
The internet is a fascinating place indeed. It's everything the world has to offer in one easy-to-access package. Naturally, your kids want to be there.
But should they? This book is not going to pretend that every kid on earth has a God-given right to surf the World Wide Web. Not only that, but many kids probably shouldn't. Included are kids whose parents allow them to go wherever they want unsupervised and without any coaching. It IS possible to get into some REAL trouble on the 'net.
You, as a parent, are reading this guide. That's a good thing. It shows that you have concerns, and in all likelihood, your kids are being given guidelines as to what does and does not constitute proper use of the internet. That being the case, what are the pros and cons of your child using the medium known as the web?
Pros
The Latest Information
I'm forty-something years old, and I grew up reading various encyclopedias in my house and schools whose ages ranged from five to forty years. In other words, much of the knowledge was outdated. Such is the nature of the extremely expensive medium known as the printed word. A new set of encyclopedias cost a thousand dollars or more, and it just wasn't (and still isn't) practical to update them annually.
On the 'net, you don't have to worry about it! For instance the free encyclopedia known as Wikipedia takes many forms on the web. One Wiki is called SmartPedia.com (http://www.smartpedia.com) and it is updated on a daily basis by its users! Such a process might seem conducive to a state of anarchy, but in fact, it's well supervised. The result is that we all have access to the freshest information possible. The price is right, too!
Everybody's an Expert in Something
The internet makes it unbelievably easy to share your thoughts and knowledge with the world. Obviously, there are great benefits to such a situation. There are also pitfalls (see below). But when someone shares their expertise with others, that means all can benefit from it. For instance, take a look at what this expert in March King John Philip Sousa has shared with us at http://www.dws.org/sousa. This man is clearly obsessed! But if you need info on the composer, this site is a well-documented, researched presentation.
And that's not even scratching the surface! There are hundreds of thousands of experts out there, many of whom share their knowledge freely online.
Everybody Hates Letters, But They Love Email
I remember cringing whenever my parents would insist that I write thank-you notes for gifts I had received from relatives. It wasn't ingratitude, it was the process of writing the letter. I mean, that big page demanded to be filled with many, many words! That's why I love email. You aren't committed to filling a whole sheet with your thoughts. Instead, your message may simply be "LOL," in response to a humorous anecdote. (LOL is Internet shorthand for "laughing out loud").
Besides, email is free! When a letter costs 37 cents, that's one more reason not to mail it. International rates are much higher. I have emailed people literally all over the world, and the price is always the same!
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