Teens and technology

By Jason Niblett, newseditor@laurelleadercall.com

August 25, 2008 09:40 am

— Law enforcement officials and religious leaders have been warning parents and guardians of the dangers found online for years. But, as technology advances, the danger posed to children only increases. Websites so popular with teens such as Myspace.com or Facebook.com are also extremely popular with people — usually adult males — targeting teens or children.
According to Facebook’s statistics, there are more than 90 million active users, making it the fourth most-trafficked Website in the world. It is also the most-trafficked social media site in the world. There are 55,000 regional, work-related, collegiate, and high school networks and more than half of its members are outside of college. The fastest growing demographic includes people more than 25 years old. There are 24 million photos uploaded daily. Myspace does not provide statistics on its site.
Those numbers — especially the number of photos uploaded and the number of members who are over the age of 25 — cause some concern for parents. Chris Webb, a native of Jones County who is now the Married Adults Pastor at First Baptist Church Jackson — spoke to members of Salem Heights Baptist Church during a seminar. He addressed the issues social networking, text messaging, Internet access on cellphones, and other technology.
“There should be thousands hearing this,” or, “Every daddy needs to know about this,” were common thoughts expressed by church members after the program.
Webb, also a father, told the congregation point blank his thoughts on social networking sites: Webb said Myspace is not welcome in his house. Although he allows his oldest daughter to use Facebook, Webb has created an account, too, so he can be her “friend.”
Webb described the iGeneration, the children and teens who want iPods, iPhones, and anything dealing with ‘I.’
“This is one of the most selfish generations we are raising,” Webb said.
Webb said the statistics show the younger generations main goals are wealth and fame — not just dreams or ideas, but true goals.
This desire also leads children and teens to want the latest trend or technology, he said. This technology allows the iGeneration to use the Internet anywhere, not just at a computer at home.
“Technology is no longer controllable. You can’t really protect your kids all the way anymore,” Webb said.
There are five problem areas created from unlimited technology, Webb said. These include Internet pornography, sexual predators, cyber bullying, virtual worlds and blogs, and Internet addiction/oral communication skills.
Internet pornography companies target both children and adults, Webb said. Saying the addiction is more powerful than cocaine, he said 17 percent of women are now struggling with Internet pornography addictions. He also said there has been a 1500 percent increase in Internet child pornography examples. He said the average age of the first time a child sees a pornographic Website is 11 years old.
“It will do havoc in marriages with these young guys seeing these images,” Webb said. “Pornographers are after your children.”
Webb, using the Website address of a Mississippi Baptist college as an example, said people buy legitimate domain names as soon as they become available. They are able to build their own traffic while waiting for a computer, college, or church to pay huge amounts of money to get their name back. He said this recently happened with www.mississippicollege.com.
Many times predators can obtain information about a child through regular sites such as social networking or blog sites. Webb introduced a video that showed how one can find information, including a child’s entire name, parents’ names, address, and hobbies within just a few minutes.
Webb suggested ways he and his wife protect their children as examples for other parents to create a plan. Webb said when his daughter asked for a cellphone, he agreed after a period of time. She had to learn Bible verses in exchange for the privilege, however. She also has a Facebook account, but only he knows the password. She signs on every few weeks when he allows. He said the privileges will expand as she gets older.
Webb said parents should not allow their children to access the Internet at places besides at home. He also said parents should have good monitoring software installed on computers. Finally, he said, computers should always be in an open part of the house, never in a bedroom.
Computers aren’t the only problem facing kids, either. Webb said text messaging on cellphones allow children and teens the opportunity to communicate with people online without parents ever knowing. He said there was a case recently at a Jackson area school where a teen had communicated with someone online, then through texting, and the adult showed up on the school campus to meet the student. A coach intervened.
Besides the danger created, Webb said, texting also hurts communication skills, including learning grammar and also communicating with parents and adults.
Webb offers these tips for parents to use with teens and children:
Do
• respect others
• tell parents if something happens
• follow rules everywhere, not just at home
• limit time
• checkup on usage
Don’t
• give out personal information
• give out passwords (including to the young user up to a certain age)
• change settings
• send pictures
• meet in person

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