The whole, internet,culture, saftey thing

So we've been asked to do some research on the internet, and whether it is ruining our culture. Luckily I am on what seems to be the easy side that it isn't. But I've seemed to stumble on something else. Thanks to my new guide to News that I actually care about, Russell Howard's Good News, I discovered an article published in "The Telegraph". Well they truly do publish a load of...Well; just have a read of the article to see what I mean:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/6554101/Internet-as-dangerous-as-letting-children-go-out-into-the-street-says-Prof-Tanya-Byron.html

Had a read? Good. Now let’s start by saying, how ridiculous IS this woman? It’s as dangerous as letting children go out into the street?! If I were as idle minded as this woman I would suggest to one lot of parents to push their children into the street, and wait to see what happens, while another set of parents let's their children go on Bebo or MySpace, and we'll see which is in the most danger sooner. You will notice, she does continue to complain about how dangerous things are, yet doesn't explain HOW. I looked up the top sites that 7-12 year olds are clicking on as of 2008, and they consist of CBeebies, Nickelodeon and Miniclip... Oh my god call the police, call the coastguard, someone quick go get Lassie!! Please.

She also says that children can be allowed on the Internet when they are prepared for it; well she's said herself that children are 'natives' to the internet, so surely they already ARE prepared for it!

I can understand the dangers of the internet, but I'd prefer someone with at least half a brain to report the dangers to me! For example, I quote her words as; "Just as her parents’ generation had to be told to put on seatbelts in the car, so today's parents had to be educated about the dangers the internet held for their children" This isn't a proper comparison! If you don't put your seatbelt on in a car, there is a likely chance your organs will be thrown forward into your ribcage, (That's right, I’ve seen the adverts!) but if parents, who Professor Byron has said don't understand or know the internet, don't prepare their children, who know a great deal more than they do, what is going to happen? If a child wants to talk to someone online, they will do it, parent’s permission or not. But in fairness, in the Top 10 of what children are looking at, YouTube is near the top. That isn't porn, it's watching Cat's do the Funniest things, it's watching Jordan's REAL performance of "A Whole New World", and it's watching "Charlie Bit Me!" believe me I've seen them all!

But my favourite part of the article may just be the part where she starts stating the statistics. "40 per cent of teenagers have been exposed to pornography"? Notice she doesn't start preaching the thirteen year old age here...So in other words, "teenagers" varies from 13-19 year olds...Hmm 17, 18, 19 year olds looking at pornography? Well thank you for that update Mrs I played "Clunk Clip" when I was a child...The reason these "poor teens" are being "exposed" to pornography is because they are TYPING IT IN! Jeeze.

But like I said, thank god for Professor Byron, else kids everywhere might be on Bebo, Facebook or MySpace...Oh wait, they still are!
There is nothing wrong with anyone of any age using the internet; you get out what you put in. I'm sure if they read you're fabulous article full of bull, they'd stop buying drugs on the internet, or whatever else they'll bring up next, but you know, they're way to busy watching pornography to even glance at a paper.

What will they write up next?