The internet has been with us for some time now, so why do the media continue to portray it as something new, dark and fearful?
Newspapers and news websites are full of stories like “woman murdered by internet date“, “internet use linked to depression“, “does the internet reinforce prejudices” and more. All of these are actual headlines from the BBC news website – not exactly the home of sensationalism and paranoia.
And a recent report issued by McAfee, “The Secret Online Lives of Teens“, does nothing to strike a more reasonable balance.
McAfee even go as far as describing their report as a “wake-up call” for parents, and include a variety of astonishingly obvious facts:
– A third of kids don’t tell their parents what they’re doing online.
– 56% of 16 and 17 year olds hide their online activities, using techniques like minimising their browsers, hiding and deleting text messages and clearing the browser history.
– One in four kids wouldn’t know what to do if they were bullied or harassed online.
Why is it newsworthy that teens want privacy, blur the truth to their parents and take greater risks than may be sensible? Take the word “online” out of the above statements and you’ll find nothing new.
But perhaps the world would be a safer place if we all used McAfee Family Protection.
