I attended a parents’ seminar last night on protecting children and teens from harmful media. It was the standard fare: your children are being targeted, and technology has enabled a torrent of bad messages that studies have shown to be highly correlated with all kinds of undesireable behavior.
Also, as expected, we heard a warning about Internet social networking sites: they are the new forest where predators lurk.
There was one idea discussed that had not occurred to me before: social networking technology has enabled a new torrent of bad messages from your children’s most powerful influence: their peers. And here I was, worrying about strangers, evil corporations, rappers, and video game developers!
So today I am checking real estate listings in Pennsylvania Dutch country and looking at horse and buggy catalogues.
P.S. Here are some web resources I got from the seminar:
Omar's Blog 