This was the point I was trying to make on NPR last year. It doesn’t take the internet for kids to learn the hardest lessons of gossip and privacy and self-expression (try 7th grade on for size). But if we mean it when we say kids shouldn’t care what people say about them, should be themselves and like themselves and others for those unique qualities, the internet is a great place to hang out. Even if they don’t “really” know each other.
One in four teenagers of the 1,000 polled said they regularly spoke to strangers online but thought it harmless.
If you wonder whether or not your teens talk to unknown people online, the answer is yes. Without a doubt.
If you wonder whether or not it is dangerous, consider this: have you taught your teenager to be a freethinking individual who has a good grasp of what qualifies as a safe situation and what does not?
…I think the internet has the ability to be an amazing portal of information and socialization, a place to expand horizons and create their own unique identities. Out of of the places I spent my time as a teenager, I can say with certainty that I got in far more trouble within the walls of my highschool than I ever did online.
