Response to PBS "Growing Up Online"

In the program "Growing Up Online," they first describe how the Internet has became the essential of children's lives. Some kid says that if he is disconnected at night, he does not know what to do rest of the night because the Internet is the only way to connect with his friends, and if he does not use the internet, he will be lost. It is just sad for a high school kid. Apparently, there is no more good old night time chatting with their siblings or their parents, who they can learn something from, and instead kids are just chatting online with other kids from school, who they will see each other next morning. Next problem they pick up is, how children uses the Internet for school work and society. Some students never read books and they only goes to the online sources and look up for the summary of the books to do their work. And their teacher actually know that students are "cheating" but today, the time when the Internet is the essential of our lives, some teachers think that using the Internet sources and build up the work is the part of their responsibilities. For this part, I have to agree with the teachers because the more it gets convenient, the more task you will get. So if you cannot handle the online source very well, you will not be able to live through today's society. The third problem is that some children find "new them" by using the Internet. Jessica, a shy girl in a real life, finds the new identity online as Autumn Edows who is a goth artist and model. I personally think this is pretty normal thing only it is not private. Everyone has a perfect picture of themselves, and some people used to write in their journal or something before the Internet is around. Then the video goes into the problem of online sexual predators, and the world their parents cannot reach. Of course the problem related to sex in tender age is very important. But I feel the parents nowadays become more and more over protective. Some parents need to learn how to step back and watch them without saying anything. They next go over cyberbullying, which, in my opinion, is normal human behavior. Human tend to bully someone in any situation and especially online, where you can say things anonymously, why not? Through the entire video they point out the problems of the Internet, but in my opinion, in each era on the globe had its own problem and it will be alright after a while. The Internet has so many wonderful side other than these problems they listed, and some can use them efficiently, and some don't. The first thing people should do is to educate their children the great side of the internet and how to use them properly.