Unfortunately, the Internet serves as the perfect playground for random acts of violence. After all, a person lacking empathy is hardly going to be swayed by the potential impact they may have on complete strangers. As a child, bad behavior results in consequences that teach us better behavior. We don’t break our friend’s toys, for if we did, our friend would no longer play with us. Observing cause and affect are invaluable learning opportunities for a child, as well as an adult. The Internet, however, removes this opportunity.
The Internet allows us to anonymously interact with millions of users. A whole new generation has been raised on the teat of this instant connectivity with strangers. The rise of the Internet and the social paradoxes it presents are unprecedented. Sadly, parents and educators are often ill-equipped to understand, much less provide guidance for, these challenges. Yet just as we have driver’s education in our schools, just as we speak to our children and students about sex, drugs, and violence, so must we teach them ethical Internet behavior.
Much has been made of the need to protect your child from the evils of the Internet. What has been overlooked may be the need to protect the Internet from your child.
To any teen (or adult) who thinks playing with viruses is kewl or cool or neat or nifty, here’s the affect you’ve been missing:
- A medical center whose transplant recipient waiting list was irretrievably damaged due to a virus;
- The small business owner who contemplated suicide after he lost all of his company’s data due to a virus;
- The grandmother who lost three years worth of precious and irreplaceable photos of her grandchildren due to a virus;
- The college student whose finished but not submitted thesis was destroyed by a virus;
- The people who were on that waiting list for a transplanted organ whose contact details were wiped out by that virus.
These are real people. Real examples. Real cause and real affect. The Internet may seem like a sort of virtual reality, but the people who use it are flesh and blood. Treat them with the same dignity and care you would treat your family and friends. Would you sneak up to your friend’s house and try every door and window to see if it was open? Would you go inside and rifle through their belongings? Would you vandalize their home and smash their possessions? Would you burn the photos of their loved ones?
Do you think these examples are too harsh? What if it had been your loved one on that organ transplant waiting list? Your grandmother who still sheds tears over the lost photos? Your dad who could no longer support his family? Your friend’s college graduation at stake? Would you still think viruses are kewl?
