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As someone who grew up in the major shift towards the current modern world that involves technology in almost every aspect of life, I can say with certainty that technology had a negative impact on my upbringing. In the coming years with advancement in AI and general technologies, this matter brings to attention the need for parents and adults to better understand general technologies — not only for its use in society but also for the sake of raising children and teaching internet safety.
A lack of understanding of technologies causes a large gap in a parent’s and children’s communication as well as exposure to inappropriate media or social interactions that a parent might not condone without their knowledge. For parents, I think it should be implemented into jobs to have a mandatory internet safety course, to at the very least understand the basics of parental controls on devices and ways that one might get around them to prevent unsolicited internet access. Along with parents, the current internet safety courses should be updated to accommodate the ever changing state of technology.
Not only should parents be learning from a workplace or by independent study, but also there should be ever evolving teaching standards that need to be met. Nobody is going to have a full understanding of all things on the internet, but a significant change to the current education about the internet and all its complexities is needed. More effort needs to be put toward understanding new shifts in technology.
Owen Audibert
Dedham
