Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023 | 2 a.m.
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The Information Age has arrived and it has the potential to accomplish almost magical things. But along with magic, modern technology and immediate access to uncurated information from anonymous or obscure sources can be dangerous if it is not used in lawful and honest ways. Our children and families, especially, can face the threat of online predators, sexually explicit material, bullying, threatening behavior and harassment.
The use of misinformation as a tool of propaganda has also reached epidemic proportions. If you do not have time to factcheck, you are a captive of individuals who may not know or feel any obligation to just report the facts.
The spin is in.
Some social media sites are filled with extreme and misleading opinions, rather than facts. Those opinions are then repeated to others as if they were the truth. Sometimes dangerous and damaging information circulates so quickly and so widely circulated throughout our society that it cannot be counteracted with truth or facts.
Parents today are in a difficult position. It is growing increasingly difficult to balance the need for access to a
technology-driven society with the need to protect children from excessive screen time and questionable material. As the number of devices children access grows, that challenge is becoming more difficult.
Many parents don’t have the time to be vigilant cyber watchdogs, they are busy working, guiding their children and trying to keep their house in order. Yet, in my experience, most children are not equipped with the emotional or practical tools to participate in social media platforms safely.
I urge parents to try to keep their children’s screen time in control and monitor their children’s contacts. Do not fall for a child’s assertion that “you are invading my privacy” by examining the sites they are accessing and demanding to know the people with whom they are communicating. As parents and adults, we can also set an example by showing our children how we engage responsibly with social media and sharing honestly the mistakes we have made.
I am not seeking the elimination of the internet or social media sites. That genie is way too big and popular to be put back into the bottle, but that does not mean we cannot better control it. What I am proposing is that as a community, we educate our children and ourselves on how to deal with the undesirable elements of the internet and social media.
When I asked some of the student groups at the recent Sun Youth Forum how they were educated to deal with the negatives of the Information Age, I was surprised at how many of the students said they had no training and that they learned of the bad things by experiencing them.
A much better solution is to give them information on how to protect themselves from the dangers of the internet and social media while enjoying the benefits. A coalition of churches, civic groups, schools, local government and media could help by providing information that is helpful and realistic.
I have lived in the Las Vegas area for a very long time and I am always impressed with our collective ability to solve problems and address issues. It would be a tragedy if children fell victim to the undesirable parts of the internet and social media because they were not educated and informed. Above all we need to do everything we can to protect them.
Brian Cram served as superintendent for the Clark County School District from 1989 to 2000.
