I've been doing a lot of research lately on internet safety and kids and all the ways that things can go wrong electronically for our young generation and came across this hilarious PSA that I thought you'd find as inspiring as I do. Poor Klausy. The thing is, they are on to something. When we were kids if you wanted to know about something like sex you had to go to the Encyclopedia Britannica which I can assure you was not very sexy reading. So thank goodness kids can just use their phones for that sort of thing now. Yeah. Thank goodness.
If you google SEX on your kid's phone you'd be surprised what graphic imagery is thrown at you. And also probably terrified. But as much as I harp about it, and as much as my friends smile and nod at me while I go on and on about the dangers of letting 13 and 14 year olds try swimming with the sharks on 17 and up apps like Snapchat and Ask.fm and Reddit, very few of them actually change the restriction settings on their children's iPhones. I suspect they are all secretly pitying Olivia, but I'm asking, are we more afraid of upsetting our children by setting boundaries than we are of throwing them to the internet predators and bullies that show up at Klaus' house?
I'm not crazy, I've seen GOOD kids make terrifyingly embarrassing mistakes online. I've seen honor students throw out language that would guarantee they won't get a job at the ice cream parlor next year and I've seen pictures that 14 year old children ought not to send to one another. They are positively swimming in overexposure to crude understandings of sexuality and language that can't help but damage the chances of intimacy they might hope to achieve with a spouse and they are seeing these things (and repeating them, trust me) because YOU AND I are paying for them with that unlimited data package. Let me be clear, dear, this is happening.
So, do what you want, but if you do want, I suggest going to the general settings on that fancy phone and enabling the restrictions with your secret passcode. I'm not a huge fan of software that allows us to monitor every key stroke until a major breach of trust gives us reason to monitor every key stroke, so setting some electronic restrictions felt like a better option. Do what you want, but DO SOMETHING to participate in this huge part of your child's life. Hard to believe their little eyes are glued to that thing and nothing, nothing at all is ever going on when you ask right? My thinking is that if you set some boundaries, either they will grow up understanding your role as protector or they'll find a million back door ways around those restrictions and boundaries. Maybe they can research how to bypass those in the Encyclopedia Britannica. It's in the living room and, if you're bored enough, it's pretty good reading.
