Final Paper for Graduate Writing Seminar

Dr. Sebastian Mahfood
Graduate Writing Seminar CSC 511
Marco De Loera
Friday November 30th, 2007
“Children Using Internet”

Twenty years ago not many people, particularly minors had access to the Internet. Computers and Internet service were used only for jobs that required immediate access to data. Technology has been taking gigantic steps, particularly in the area of communications. However, we have not addressed the issues that technology brings with its development. Children and home access to the Internet were a combination that we were not prepared to address. How can we protect our children from this two edge sword, the Internet?
I do not deny that computers are a very functional device for human development. The “miracle of wireless communication,” the Internet, helps us to work in a way which we can find out things from all over the world almost instantaneously. Our contemporary society knows about this technological wonder, and many use it on daily basis. This “magical connection”, nevertheless, raises many issues for people. One of these is appropriate usage of the Internet for children. Children can be trapped in a cycle of bad usage of the Internet, and unfortunately they are the best prey to this misuse. “There is no doubt about the capacity of the Internet to disturb – to disturb existing attitudes.”[1] Children who are not monitored and guided to use this technology, can fall down into the maze of surfing online within inappropriate territories: pornography, chat-rooms, fake information, and other problematic sites.
Coming from a culture that is different than the United States, I find that Internet usage is not yet something remarkably indispensable in my country. It has not yet reached the importance that it has in homes in the United States. Here, computers with the Internet are almost as important as light or water services. They have a place in people’s homes and the usage of it has become an everyday ritual, so much that we do not leave the house before we say good by to it. This means that even children, are in constant contact with it. Even at the age of six, children are able to use the Internet and to surf throughout cyberspace. In many cases, this is done without adult supervision.
Parents and institutions are concerned about how safe the Internet is for children. In July of 2000, the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops distributed pamphlets all over the country which contained information concerning strategies that we can pursue in order to enable children to make more appropriate use of this technology. The greatest problem lies in catering to concupiscent and irascible appetites, where individuals have the capacity to pursue, virtually anonymously, eroticism and sensuality. Our children can be in serious danger if we do not watch what they are watching. “Some of the highest traffic on the Web is to pornography sites,” for instance, “while other sites purvey hatred of particular groups.”[2]
Pollution in the Internet is inevitable, but there are strategies to filter out the bad websites in order to preserve our children’s chastity of eyes and mind. It is hard to think that the Internet could be harmful, because it is used in many ways to communicate and to make our world more reachable. However, as the United States Catholic Conference says, “Internet use, then, can be little like visiting the best theme park in the world and coming across a toxic waste dump.”[3] We do not want the putrefied smell of rotten garbage to enter the nostrils of our children. Again, the service of the Internet needs to be taken seriously, and for those who have minors at home, they need to come up with techniques to avoid putting children in danger.
We know that a long-period of Internet usage is not healthy for anybody, and this is especially true for minors. Continuous usage not only affects human interaction, but also can become a refuge for disorders, such as depression. The proper time of the day and length of the usage of Internet has to be judged by parents. They need to know and determine how much time their children can surf online.
The late hours of the day is when minors tend misuse the Internet the most. For instance, they may chat too much with friends online. This can lead their becoming inefficient during the school day. Social skills can be affected by a constant interaction with “cyber people”, instead of people who are in close physical proximity. Parents’ support, when the child is using the Internet, can save the child from unnecessary misuse of this wonderful invention. “Children are born into a forest of figures”[4] and can get lost into a cyber black hole; even worse, minors can get involved in activities that can put their ethical and moral life in danger.
Keeping our children safe while they are using the Internet can be done by means of a few simple suggestions. Computers should be put in an open space, such as a living room, hallway, or other common area. They should never be placed inside children’s rooms. Simply because “[i]solated [minors] in front of a computer screen can lack the necessary moral and social support to resist what they are being drawn into, ‘because’ it takes only a few mouse-clicks for an inquisitive child to find a sea of sexual explicit or gratuitously violent and hate-filled material.”[5] Minors do not have total freedom about what to chose when it comes to using the Internet. With proper guidance, however, children could be taught how to make the best usage of this awesome invention.
Proper use and a critical eye (to see what sources are appropriate) are only two suggestions to make Internet usage more responsible. In our hands lies the responsibility to teach our teens that information on the Internet is not always reliable. We have an obligation to first learn how to discern these things for ourselves. There are official sites which teens can be sure that the information contained is accurate and true. Some of these reliable sources include “www.vatican.va and www.nccbuscc.org.”[6] Minors would find it useful to consult with their teachers before using sources online, which will help them to become more critical users.
Finally, healthy Internet usage can be fostered by parents in many other ways. Some of the ways can be: praying before the using the Internet to set a mood for a holy surfing online; parental attention, to increase our attention towards our children can save them from unnecessary damages such as traumas caused by the Internet; and questions directed toward things children about the things they have been looking at online. Some other practical things are also helpful to assure the best Internet use, such as, “ISP ‘and’ filtering software [for a better protection and safety of the minor usage].”[7] Our moral obligation is to teach our children ways to use Internet more responsibly. “All users, [moreover], of the Internet are obliged to use it in an informed, disciplined way, for morally good purposes; parents should guide and supervise children's use. Schools and other educational institutions and programs for children and adults should provide training in discerning use of the Internet.”[8]
Children are the future of our world and our responsibility is to help them grow healthy in mind and in spirit. The Internet can help them to reach their goals and to expand their vision to become better persons. Let all of us take this task of mentoring children to use this invention properly.

[1] Eric Borgman, Stephan van Erp, and Hille Heker. Cyberspace-Cyberethics-Cybertheology. (London, 2005), p. 33
[2] Msgr. Dennis M. Schnurr. United States Catholic Conference, Your Family and Cyberspace. (Washington, July 2000), p 1.
[3] Schnurr., p. 1.
[4] Pierre Babin and Angela Ann Zukowski. The Gospel in Cyberspace. (Chicago, 2002), p. 65.
[5] Schnurr., p. 3.
[6] Ibid., 5.
[7] Ibid., 7.
[8] John P. Foley. Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Ethics in Internet. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20020228_ethics-Internet_en.html. October 14, 2007.