INTERNET LIKE A JUNGLE ? FILLED WITH POTENTIAL AND PERIL

In response to our question: ?Education in the use of Social Communications, what medium should be given priority?? 53.7% of you think that challenges posed by use of the Internet require urgent attention from the educational community. 29.5% say TV; 11.4%, newspapers and magazines; and finally, 5.4%, radio.
We might think that pornography is the main danger on the Internet, but police reports find other perhaps greater hazards such as pedophilia, fraud, and drug dealing. Without downplaying the immense possibilities that the Internet offers, educators and psycologists point out that its use can create a dependence capable of cutting people off from their families and communities and creating a virtual world disengaged from reality. Although chat rooms offer a fine way to communicate, they can turn into stamping grounds for children and adolescents with problems, like sites recently reported on involving girls with anorexia.
Turning off the computer isn?t the answer. We need to help children and young people learn how to surf the web without drowning in storm-tossed seas. Parents have an irreplaceable role. Even though they don?t control what the Internet puts out, it is still their role to accompany their children, helping them use this educational medium wisely and effectively.