I can’t remember my first time on the internet. Sure, I remember the various dress up websites and the makeover games, Webkinz, and Club Penguin, but I don’t remember the first time I logged on that started a habit that hasn’t ended. As technology continues to advance, I find even more uses for it.
Another thing I remember were the constant talks about internet usage- not necessarily directly to me, but just to kids in general. “Don’t go on this website! Don’t click on that! Ask your parents permission before going online!” were trained into my mind before I knew it. By the time I was in middle school, the occasional letter was being sent home that kids were sending inappropriate photos around, and parents should be advised that “any possession of nude/inappropriate photos of minors is a crime.”
Now, look, I’m not saying that the internet doesn’t have its faults and dangers, but all of those warnings and precautions? They’re a lot to take in for 10 and 11-year-olds- and that’s probably even older than most kids who are using the internet now.
As a society, we need to be teaching the next generation of kids how to use the internet in ways that are beneficial to them, without completely weighing them down with how horrible it is.
The 21st Century has proven itself to be one of rapid technological advancement, communication, and access to information, and we should be focusing on that, equally if not more than, why the internet sucks.
As I’ve been exposed to my fair share of social media, and as I’ve obtained more access to the internet (iPods, iPhones, laptops, etc.), I’ve gained access to more knowledge than I could’ve ever imagined. I’ll even go so far as to say that my passion for feminism among other social issues wouldn’t be as strong if I didn’t have the internet. Take someone like Diana Veras; yes, she is a model and I’m sure that I’d seen her in clothing ads before I made my Instagram, but it’s the fact that I see her in such a state of normalcy in every picture she posts- even if she’s posting a picture of her at a photo shoot- that has allowed me to think about how I have the right to be comfortable in my body, and that I am beautiful. Or take teenage activism, which has grown so much in the past few years, a fact that most likely wouldn’t be true if it wasn’t for the internet. People with access to a platform are able to understand other issues from cultural appropriation to rape culture. Young people have so much to say and so much that they want to do: organizing, educating and learning, and the internet has offered them so many places to do so. I mean, think about it: without the internet- would I even be writing this right now?
Again, this is absolutely not to excuse the dangers that come with the internet, like cyberbullying or creepy internet trolls, or to say that everything you see on the internet is 100% factual. However, it is to say that while there might be horrible things, there are also so many wonderful opportunities that are inspiring, thought-provoking and educational, and we need to be teaching kids that, starting right now.
