[ High School and Self-Education Board ]
Posted by Carrie in NC on 19:44 Sep 15
In Reply to: How much internet access do you allow your teens? posted by Cheri in MI
I don't see IMing as time wasting anymore than other social activities that teens can/could/did engage in. IMing is the phone of today. My kids, like Stacey said, have far-flung friends due to church, homeschooling and missions trips. IMing allows real-time conversations. What I think is cool about IMing is that they can actually talk to two or three friends at the same time. Hey, that's multi-tasking! ;-)
Both my teens (17 and 15 yr old boys) also have Xanga sites where they journal, post pictures they've taken and keep in touch with friends.
We have an internet filter and passwords on all the computers. They ahve to have me log in for them to be on. Also, all the computers are in a main room that is open and high traffic. The internet filter allows us to control the times of day that the computers can access the internet. That way, the kids can use the computers for writing papers, etc., without being distracted by surfing the net.
Other than that, once schoolwork is done, they can get on the computers just about as much as they want. My kids use it for writing stories, blogging, gaming and just looking up info. The internet access shuts off from 11 pm to 6 am.
Computers and the internet simply are a part of the modern world. I'd rather my kids be fluent with computers and know how to make them a tool rather than a forbidden fruit.
Just my 2 cents!
Carrie