The Undercover Parent

Children are curious by nature; the urge to explore the unknown is in their blood. Generations ago, the unknown might have involved the outdoors or the wilderness. Today, the “unknown” that children know of and wonder about is on the internet. Inquisitiveness can be a good thing, but when the curiosity of kids, and especially teens, is paired with the wide array of possibilities on the internet, a potentially dangerous situation may be created. In the article “The Undercover Parent,” Harlan Coben writes about the hazards of the internet world, and what parents can do to protect their kids from them. He says that parents should responsibly monitor their children’s internet usage to be sure that they’re being safe when online. Although there …show more content…
The article “Should Parents Snoop on Their Kids Online?” says, in paragraph one, that kids are getting increasingly more access to technology nowadays. This means more exposure to the internet, as well as the dangers that sprout from it. Subsequently, according to “The Undercover Parent”, there are many dangerous people and websites on the internet. Harlan Coben states, “We’ve all read about the young boy unknowingly conversing with a pedophile or the girl who was cyber bullied to the point where she committed suicide. Would a watchful eye have helped?” In cases such as these, the negligence of parents is what allowed the situation to escalate to such dire ends. If the parents of those kids had been monitoring them, they would have caught the problem sooner, and would’ve been able to prevent such …show more content…
There are many reasons for this. The first is that technology and the internet run the modern world, whereas in the past, face-to-face communication was the only option to connect with others. Technology and the internet allow people to connect with others on the planet; however, using it also exposes the user to the dangers of it. Many parents choose not to monitor their teenager’s online activity, thinking they would be learning of their teen’s private thoughts. In reality, though, this is not the case, as the world can already see what the teenager is doing online. Not monitoring kids is basically negligence on the parent’s part, as the child may not know how to tell apart risks from the ordinary internet happenings. Therefore, parents of children and teens should monitor their technology and internet use, in order for the welfare of the young