Internet Safety Makes Top-10 List of Child Health Concerns

So, if I asked you to name the top 10 child health concerns in today’s world, would you immediately think of the internet? Apparently, some parents do. In a recent study conducted by C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, 26 percent of parents think Internet safety is a big health concern.

Just for comparison, Internet safety ranked higher on the list than school violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and child abuse and neglect. I can’t help but think that something is VERY wrong with these parent’s cognitive reasoning skills. I mean, sure I don’t want my son to beat me in a race and then jump up and down yelling, “PWNED! PWNED RIGHT IN THE FACE!” but we need to be a little more realistic here. Teen pregnancy was 6th on the list, but STD’s were 9th? So, you’re worried your child might get pregnant, but as long as they only get syphilis, it’s not as bad as seeing some boobies on the net? What is that?

While there are several proposals making the rounds that will basically help stem the (apparently) overwhelming tide of pornography on the internet, the one thing that actually worries me on the net, child predators, aren’t even mentioned.

What it all boils down to is that we, as parents, are responsible for our kid’s online viewing. We can’t depend on the government, or some study, to tell us what the problem is, as we already know. Personal responsibility, while out of style, is still oh so sexy. Not to mention oh so scary.