With Great Power comes Great responsibility

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This week's topic had me pondering about my online journey and how I have navigated these policies when I was younger. My high school used to block social media webpages, but most students knew proxy sites to navigate around these obstacles. While it is admirable that there are policies in place to protect children on the internet, the fact of the matter is, it's not concrete. On the one hand, danah boyd does have a point, I think it's more than just "teaching kids to lie". 

In all honesty, most kids already know how to fib here or there before using the internet. With that in mind, because there aren't any repercussions to falsifying one's age online - and there really isn't a way to prove it one way or another, these terms almost mean nothing. It's always felt to me, that it's more of a way to protect the different platforms.  At the end of the day, if there's a pop up on pornography websites that asks for your age, all the user has to do is click "YES I'm over 18" and they're in. 

Regardless of the measures that adults put in place, there will always be a way around it, and kids tend to be able to find these loopholes rather easily. If trends were able to be spread across the nation prior to the internet, then just imagine how easily this information can spread now. 

I think that having access to the internet is a privilege, and with that privilege comes proper education around it, which includes safety. It is important to talk to children about internet safety, erring on the side of caution and to question the things you see online. 13 years old is a decent age, I think, to begin using the internet more socially. There are so many wonderful resources that are available to them. It is integral for parents specifically to ingrain in their children to navigate social media carefully. 

My oldest child is 16, and we're still having these types of discussions, training them to question these sources. We've even had an incident at their school involving one of the staff and social media that was incredibly inappropriate. I've lived through my share of mistakes online - I was catfished for an entire year. I was LUCKY that the person on the other end was someone my age, but "To Catch A Predator" didn't become popular for nothing. 

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It is interesting to see the new policies on Youtube after the debacle of the platform violating COPPA. I feel this may have backfired in some way. On the one hand, it's not collecting information from children under the age of 13, BUT the power of labeling children's content being left to the creator can be problematic in its own way. I firmly remember just around that time, some extremely inappropriate content being targeted towards children on Youtube. Disguised as "child-friendly content" there were creators creating videos of mature content while dressed up as characters from popular shows and movies. Some even went as far as crudely animated videos, that absolutely were not for children to view.  

It goes to show that online safety can be an extremely tricky situation. To ensure that kids stay protected, adults - guardians in particular - must instill proper online conduct - and space for their children to consult with them, if there are any issues.