The internet is vast and unlimited. You can search anything, you can communicate through social networking, you can do anything. With this, not just adults but children use the internet. Their parents either gives them a computer, cellphone, or they access the internet through school or friends. There many dangers, early exposure to adult topics, and contact with unknown persons.
Pornography, nudity, sex, indecency is obliviously a big problem. The problem is easy access. You can google anything and you'll get it. There is so much of it, you can inadvertently end up at a porno site, you can be searching youtube, a very popular site, and come across inappropriate material for minors. You can be doing anything, it's all over the place. In general its a danger according to Donna Rice Hughes, President of Enough Is Enough. On her Website, Protect Kids, when children are exposed to this type of material, it causes them to grow up too fast, children may mimic what they see, it shapes their values, attitude, and behavior.
According to Tori DeAngelis from the American Psychological Association (APA), DeAngelis also disccuses the effects of pornography on children in his 2007 article.
"Each year about 40 percent of teens and preteens visit sexually explicit sites either deliberately or accidentally, studies here and abroad show." "In one study surveying 471 Dutch teens ages 13 to 18, the researchers found that the more often young people sought out online porn, the more likely they were to have a "recreational" attitude toward sex--specifically, to view sex as a purely physical function like eating or drinking." "The Dutch team found a link between the type and explicitness of sexual media the teens saw and their tendency to view women as sexual 'play things.'"
Another danger to children is the anonymousness of the internet. Most social and chat sites have age restrictions, but children lie about their age to sign on. On these websites they are stalkers and child predators. According to a CBS article from 2009 by By John Kreiser, on myspace older individuals have disguise themselves as minors to interact with children. In some cases, minors have met up with strangers and gone missing or were murdered.
"In New Jersey, Majalie Cajuste is grieving the murder of her daughter Judy. The 14-year-old reportedly told friends she met a man in his 20s through MySpace.com." "Across the country, in Northern California, friends are mourning 15-year-old Kayla Reed. She was active on MySpace until the day she disappeared."
Now they are a number of ways to help protect children from these dangers, like engaging the parental block on all home computers, and refrain from giving your child a cellphone that has access to the internet. Tori DeAngelisin in his article suggest, "Proactive parenting", but also throws out the idea of ,"Protect or educate?". In general, parents have to put their foot down and practice old fashion child rearing to control child and raise them right.