Continuous monitoring is required

Virtual world

While kids might find the Internet useful, chances are that they may knowingly or unknowingly misuse the Internet. One wonders whether parents are doing enough to monitor their child’s Internet usage?     

Metrolife interacted with a few parents to see what measures they have taken to ensure that their child doesn’t fall victim to Internet misuse.

Says Sridevi, a homemaker, “Internet has changed the way relationships work. Children spend a better part of their time on the Internet and hardly spend quality time with their parents. The Internet prompts children to withdraw from the real world and move towards the virtual side and this indirectly isolates the child.”

Anitha Satish, another homemaker says, “Today’s children know how to operate high end phones and send multimedia messages and almost match software professionals in their skills. The exposure is too much because they have easy acess to everything and children can absorb and execute things quickly.” 

The Internet provides children with whatever information they want, irrespective of what is right or wrong feels Uma, an advocate.

“Knowing fully well about the positive and negative of the Internet, parents must be sensitive to the usage and the contents available on the Internet and ensure that the usage is limited to select things. The Internet answers all the queries of the children which we can’t and that is the reason they’re hooked to it,” she says.

But the need to get hooked on to the Internet would not arise if the child is surrounded by people who are amicable in their approach, opines Chandramouli, an IT professional. “A good companion is the basic step to ensure a healthy mind and thought. It is very important for parents to take time off and be with their children. This could divert them from the Internet to a large extent,” he says.

According to Preethi, a psychologist, it is common for children to get attracted to things that fulfil their demands,

“ It is certainly common to be playing games and accessing rich contents on the Internet but at the same time the kind of games they play must enhance their thinking power in a proactive manner. They must strike a balance between the Internet usage and diverting to other activities,” she sums up.