There are some very cynical people posting on this topic. They need to open their minds and look at this issue from all sides. Would you liked to be called naive? Would you like to have no privacy? Would you like to be considered untrustworthy and stupid? Put yourself in someone else?s shoes, for that is the only way you'll ever come close to understanding what other people are like.

Those who believe that they are invincible are fools; however, those who lack confidence will never get anything done.

The fact of the matter is that unless you have actually gone out and made the mistakes yourself, you know neither the consequences nor what it is like to make the mistakes. If you are a parent, your children most likely have a larger quantity of information stored within them about the internet than you. Until you have taken it upon yourself to understand your computer and to understand your children, what you know about the internet and what they know about the internet are going to be completely different. The reason that teens and their parents have different knowledge is that they have different sources of information. This is exactly like when your kids go to school for the first time and learn how they are supposed to act from their peers; their sources of information are not the same as yours. The people they learn their computer abilities from and the people you learn yours from are different.

There are teens I know who know many things their parents might never know exist, such as how to change your internet's privacy settings. Unfortunately, by learning these things from the grapevine, they never hear about the hazards of tinkering with them. And because they know how to change something like privacy settings, but don?t know the risks associated with doing so, most will just assume it?s safe to do so. The same can be said for giving out personal information. If you want to prevent your children from giving out personal information, don?t try to prevent them from using the computer or from talking with someone, familiarize them with the perils of passing around personal information.

The simplicity of the solution to this problem is quite ironic. Teens can make their own judgments, and often do without your knowledge. By imposing rules and regulations and by taking away their privacy, you imply that they are not worthy of your trust. And think, if you were stuck in a cage and could be given a key to open it if you were to go against those who put you in, would you take the key? The next generation has been brought up with technology, and it is a proven fact that children learn more quickly than adults. They will find a way to get around any obstacle you try to bar their path with. YOU are teaching them that they need to learn ways to get by authority. Is this the life lesson you want to teach your kids?

Think about it and ask yourself, how well do you really know your kids? Do you know what they know? Do you know anything about slang, or what slang they learn at school? Do you know what they know about sex? Did you know that unless you talk with them about it, the only things that they know about sex are what their school says and what their peers say? People are much more likely to believe their peers than their teachers? And just like their internet usage, their peers won?t tell them about the pitfalls of having sex or smoking or doing drugs. The only way you can fairly say that you helped your child is by educating them and making sure they know the dangers of whatever actions they choose. This is a life lesson that will continue to be important for the rest of their life, after they are freed of your restrictions and are exploring the real world.

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