Watch that computer!

The difference between a TV and a computer is that a computer is interactive: it lets people you do not know come into your house and discuss with your kids. Computers are a necessary instrument nowadays: do not deprive your kids of it. But watch out and teach them how to use it.

***

Read this from the FBI January 8th
Baltimore, Maryland - Patrick G. Mahan, age 34, of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty today to interstate travel with the intent to engage in a sexual , securityact with minor, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.
“If parents do not monitor their children’s internet use every day, it might be too late,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “Within minutes after Patrick Mahan ‘met’ a child in an internet chat room, Mahan solicited the girl for sex. Within five days, Mahan traveled from Pennsylvania to Maryland to follow through on his plan to abuse the child. This case demonstrates how quickly internet predators are able and willing to act when they find vulnerable children.”

***

Kids who do not have a father at home, kids who are not very happy are at greater risk.But even a very happy well adapted kid should not be allowed in chat rooms: these are too often dirty dark places. There was in an event earlier last year an erotic picture of a naked kid. What horrified me is that it had hundreds of thousands of viewers in 24 hours. There are many many pedophiles around, and they work hard at finding victims. It is a fact of life. Watch out.