Internet is more than 50% evil
Monday, May 14th, 2007A news article in the Scotsman entitled “Half children using web ‘face online abuse’” leads with the fact that more than half of children using social networking sites on the Internet have had an “unwanted experience”. (By more than half, they mean 50.4%). According to the NSPCC, who published the report, an “unwanted experience” could mean “anything from being bullied or threatened to being asked to perform sexual acts”. (The Sun predictably puts the sex abuse thing first in the list).
The article goes on to mention that the majority of these kids are using the Internet to keep in touch with friends, or make new ones. And 60 per cent of them use it to avoid feeling isolated and 53 per cent use it to share their problems. These facts are far too positive to lead the story with though. Best stick to demonising. Then maybe this Internet thing will go away and we can go back to the good old days where print newspapers had the monopoly on information (and advertising revenue)
My experience is that over 90% of children face bullying and threats at school. Probably a similar number of adults experience bullying and threats, and often sexual abuse in the workplace. Ipso facto, the Internet is better than school and work. Just try and avoid the news web sites.
