Kids and the Internet

An interesting piece from the Center for Media Research last week on kids and their Internet behavior. It dealt with a survey conducted by Common Sense Media in conjunction with The Benenson Strategy Group. Bottom Line: there is a big disconnect between what kids are doing on the Internet and what parents think they're doing, according to the survey.

Here are a few examples:

• Sixteen percent of parents think that their kids have sent information over the Internet that they shouldn't have. In the survey, 28 percent of kids copped to having done that,.
• Responding parents said that eight percent of their kids posed as adults in chat rooms, IM-ing, etc. The real number: closer to 18 percent
• Four percent of parents thought their kids has signed on to someone else's social networking site using a purloined password, when reality was six times greater than that-24 percent

Perhaps one of the riskier behaviors having gained a lot of media attention over the last year is posting nude or semi-nude self-images on the Internet. Only two percent of parents thought kids do that. Reality: 13 percent of the juvenile respondents say it happens.

The survey provides a glimpse of overall teenage Internet habits. More than half of kids surveyed visit a social networking site (Facebook, MySpace, etc.) more than once a day, and about of half of those kids visit ten or more times a day.

A third of the juvenile respondents said they visit gaming sites more than once daily, about double the number that visit Internet teen chat rooms.

But about seven percent are frequent visitors to sites that that provide homework help-about the same number that visit sports-related sites.

In 2004, Chris Anderson wrote an article called "The Long Tail" where he applied the statistical model of consumer behavior (diminishing but long-lasting effect) to the phenomenon that Internet information. Essentially after you post it, Internet information can live for a very long time and be accessible to millions of people. In the "Long Tail" category, nearly 40 percent of kids said they had posted something they later regretted, a quarter of respondents had sent pictures they're now not sure they would want shared, or had posted information they would not normally have shared with millions of strangers.

Call it Poster's Remorse.

Just thought you might like to know.

What Did We Ever Do Before Nanny Government

"How Did We Ever Make It Before Nanny Government?" asks economist and author Walter Williams.

Think about the ways in which government makes decisions for us and hovers over us like a caregiver. I wonder why the human race did not die out before we turned our common sense over the the government. Here's a few examples of Aunty Government:

• School principals in Australia want teachers to have the power to police lunch boxes from home to remove any offending cookies or chips that are deemed unhealthy. They say teachers need the authority to enforce ‘healthy eating’ habits.


• Last year California lawmakers introduced a bill to criminalize spanking. The state has a $40 billion deficit lawmakers can't close, but their biggest concern is that some smartass kid doesn't get his rear end whacked by mom.


• If you live in Aurora, CO and you leave your car running unattended, police may hit you with a $75 fine. They say it makes it too easy for car hijackers. Here's a thought: It's my car. If it gets stolen, no one suffers a loss but me. If it causes my insurance premiums to increase, no one pays but me. If I'm willing to accept the consequences, what business is it of anyone else?


• The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 in effect prohibits gamblers in the U.S. from engaging in their pursuit over the Internet. Maybe next Congress will ban slot machines or Casino War, or any other game where they consider the odds anti-consumer.

Silly legislation like these examples only matter because of the government resources and treasure they suck up to enforce. It creates permanent bureaucracies like the Federal Trade Commission. It sucks money out of the private sector that might be used to hire people, buy equipment, and increase productivity and the general standard of living. Instead, we're saddled with enforcing bans on Internet gambling, ice cream in school lunchrooms or helmet-less motorcycle riders.

Just thought you might like to know.