Internet is useful tool but can be dangerous

If police in this nation had a squad car for every lecherous adult they picked up who tried to entice a child via the Internet to meet some place private, they would need a community the size of Sterling to park them all. If law enforcement had a squad car for every minor who was almost lured to danger by a degenerate but who was discovered beforehand by a parent or other responsible individual, you would need a city the size of Savannah to park them all, or so the theory goes.

The gist of the matter is this: The Internet can be a useful tool, but it also can be, for the unwary, a family’s worst nightmare. Preteens and teens have a cavalier attitude, as we’ve said before, that nothing bad is ever going to happen to them.

Wrong. And unfortunately, some teens have ended up DEAD wrong or scarred for life.

Parents, monitor what your sons and daughters do. Be careful about allowing them to let a stranger into their lives by going to an unsupervised room of the house to engage in a cyberchat. There are so many of these sites on the Internet that a child can go most anywhere in cyberspace and chat with most anyone night and day.

There is little protection on the Internet itself. Children are asked to type their date of birth in a provided space to ensure that they are at least 18. They are asked by the hosting website to be truthful and, sometimes, to check a square with a simple click of a computer mouse that they are being honest about their age.

Come on, just how effective is that? That is no guard at all against a curious minor wandering unknowingly into a world of danger.

Chat rooms are great hangouts of pedophiles. They, too, can lie about their birth date. Just ask police.

Monitor your children, and make sure the parents of any child whose house they visit are equally as vigilant.

It only takes one slip up to ruin a life. Don’t let the Internet take something precious from you.

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Internet useful but dangerous