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UK Press Scare Campaign, Don't Let Your Children Out Of Your Sight!

You shouldn't you know, lock them in the back room somewhere, you don't want paedophiles getting them. Isn't really practical is it? So why would you stop your children enjoying the benefits of the internet just because of some of the dangers that exist?

The UK Press have finally caught up with what I've been preaching since the middle of last year, that Bebo and FaceBook are not suitable for younger children at all and older children should be monitored. The front page of the Daily Mail features a story and it was also prominent on GMTV this morning. However rather than just going through some of the dangers and then explaining HOW as parents we can help our children they have just gone down the line of isn't the internet evil. Aren't Bebo, MySpace and FaceBook evil?! Our kids are all doomed!

Many things on the internet are not suitable for children, however many parents aren't aware of what their kids are actually doing online. Whilst it's great of the mainstream media to raise awareness perhaps a slightly more balanced view could be in order. Sure make parents aware of the dangers that are online but please also make them aware that it's not a helpless situation and there are things that they can do to help protect their children when they use the internet as well. Simple things such as blocking sites in their browser of choice and sitting with their kids when they use the computer can really help with younger children. With slightly older children make the parents aware of the monitoring solutions out there (not only ICU, there are about 6 other programs that apply various levels of controls that could equally be used). All I'm saying is that if you're going to make people aware of the dangers, also make them aware of some of the ways of mitigating that danger.