I spy...my child on the Internet

There’s no denying that when it comes to raising children, each generation encounters a newer set of challenges than their parents experienced raising them. For those raising children during the ‘50s and ‘60s, there was rock ‘n’ roll, the “devil’s music” that “taught” kids immoral behavior. Then, those children had children who were raised in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s and dealt with the struggles of Generation X, the MTV ne’er-do-wells who had no respect for authority. And now the Gen Xers are raising kids but facing an entirely new challenge: the digital age.

Today, kids are exposed to technology practically at birth. Children as young as 8 are joining social networks despite minimum age requirements of 13 or 14. So what’s a parent to do to ensure the protection of their children? Some parents may think the answer is espionage.

According to a recent study done by the Telegraph (Irvine, 2008), three in four parents spy on their children online. Additionally, one in four admits to secretly logging into their child’s social networking page without them knowing. These invasive parents seemed justified when considering that one in five kids ages 8 to 15 have said they met up with strangers in person whom they had previously only encountered online.

Social networking sites like MySpace® and Facebook™ warn users that their account could be deleted if they suspect the user of being under the minimum age limit, but this hasn’t stopped parents from taking matters into their own hands.

A law against online spying

So is spying on your kids’ online activity ethical? That’s an issue still up for debate in America. On the other side of the Pacific in China’s Chongquing Province, spying on your children online is no longer legal. Lawmakers have banned parents from, “secretly browsing through their children’s emails, Web chats or online messages” (PBS, 2010). This is a landmark law for a country where more than 126 million minors access the Internet on a daily basis. Essentially, the law empowers children to defend themselves in court if they catch their parents spying on them.

But how much protection can parents really provide? Inevitably, being raised in the digital age makes children more savvy than their parents. Take Song Jingbo, an 11-year-old Chinese boy who said “I am far more Internet savvy than they [my parents] are.” Jingbo also said that if he caught his parents spying on him, he “won’t call the police, as I know they just want to help protect me” (PBS, 2010).

Whether spying on your children’s online activity is ethical or not, it’s happening at all different levels of intensity. From parents creating Facebook pages to see who and what their children are involved with, to software programs capable of monitoring Web history and full IM conversations, there are a lot of options out there for parents. While there may not be a perfect solution for every situation involving monitoring your kids’ online activity, maybe it’s best to do what your parents may have done and talk about the vulnerability of growing up. Or you could just post a message on your child’s Facebook page.

References

Irvine, C. (2008, August 7). Three in four parents spy on children online. Telegraph.

PBS. (2010, September 7). Chinese province bans parental online ‘spying’. PBS NewsHour Extra.

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