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Would/Do you let your teen have the computer in their room?
- Thread starter yoyo5280
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My mom first gave me a computer at around thirteen, I've watched viewed porn online since then, seen both the jackass movies, number two a few times, have never been in a residential program, and am still salutatorian, and going to college in the upcoming year. Was your point that porn and jackass make kids bad?
All of my friends have seen jackass, I have seen clips. Its funny but sometimes im like :s
id prefer to not go into the other thing
im being watched here Maybe he was overly addicted, but i thats gotta be like always and only think about it addiction (beyond the typical teenage immature jokes made 12 /5)
im also guessing there was more problems
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.4; U; Series60/5.0 Nokia5800d-1/10.0.010; Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 ) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413)
To be honest, I didn't have one in my room until I was 19 and went off to uni. However, it's probably common in my age group, since I didn't grow up in a time where computers could be bought for $400 or so. Most families that had a computer only had a single machine in the home. However, if it was more common to have more computers in the home at the time, my parents had no problem with it. I don't think i have a problem with it either. Looking at porn doesn't make you a bad person. I'd be more afraid of sexual predators, and other types of dangers.
To be honest, I didn't have one in my room until I was 19 and went off to uni. However, it's probably common in my age group, since I didn't grow up in a time where computers could be bought for $400 or so. Most families that had a computer only had a single machine in the home. However, if it was more common to have more computers in the home at the time, my parents had no problem with it. I don't think i have a problem with it either. Looking at porn doesn't make you a bad person. I'd be more afraid of sexual predators, and other types of dangers.
not trying to b funny - but what's the question there?
Whether they look up Porn or not - if they were my kids I my house they would obey house rules. Porn, pedophiles, etc etc. I wouldn't want endanger my children - whether they be naive or go looking for it of their own free will..
Call me old fashioned or strict.
I don't get why everyone is so frightened of pedophiles on the internet. They cannot reach you through a computer. Are you worried about pedophiles when your kids go outside?
i built my 386 when i was in my preteens. i had a computer in my room all throughout my highschool years.
if all your child is going to do is get on facebook or myspace and upload pictures, or look at porn. then they shouldnt even have a computer at that age. they can easily use a family unit.
if the son is interested in using a computer for higher learning..then i would definatly allow my child to have on in their room.
i learned how to use photoshop and illustrator when i was in 6th grade, with version 3 if i remember correctly. i wouldnt have been able to learn as much as i have learned on my own if i was busy trying to set up "computer time".
to some of us the computer is a vital piece of our every day lives.
to others...its not.
if all your child is going to do is get on facebook or myspace and upload pictures, or look at porn. then they shouldnt even have a computer at that age. they can easily use a family unit.
if the son is interested in using a computer for higher learning..then i would definatly allow my child to have on in their room.
i learned how to use photoshop and illustrator when i was in 6th grade, with version 3 if i remember correctly. i wouldnt have been able to learn as much as i have learned on my own if i was busy trying to set up "computer time".
to some of us the computer is a vital piece of our every day lives.
to others...its not.
Old fashioned and strict.
Think of all the dangerous websites that are out there that may harm you in some way, and yet you manage.
I'd let them, my parents let me as well, but same with my parents:
The kid only gets what she/he pays for. If they pay for a computer, tv, xbox, whatever, they can have it so long as they obey basic rules(no illegal activities), porn, whatever, that's a personal choice(and I'd rather the child do it in their room than in the family room).
As for the pedophile argument....I honestly think WoW is more dangerous than sexual deviants, I was in grade 12 the year WoW came out, we had 4 people drop out WITHIN 3 WEEKS OF RELEASE(and yes, they all played).
The kid only gets what she/he pays for. If they pay for a computer, tv, xbox, whatever, they can have it so long as they obey basic rules(no illegal activities), porn, whatever, that's a personal choice(and I'd rather the child do it in their room than in the family room).
As for the pedophile argument....I honestly think WoW is more dangerous than sexual deviants, I was in grade 12 the year WoW came out, we had 4 people drop out WITHIN 3 WEEKS OF RELEASE(and yes, they all played).
If, for some reason, I ever have kids I'd let them keep a computer in their rooms provided that they saved up their money and bought it themselves... should be around the right age (14-15). That's pretty much what I did, though my father provided "me" (it was really a family machine) with a cheap HP computer around the age of 10, that went to my mother when he got me a cheap Dell for my 13th birthday. Needless to say, both were pretty bad, good thing Apple saved me from what would have become computer hate.
I'm not a parent so I live in the fantasy world of "when I have a kid, I'm going to do it right!" I would say no, for a variety of reasons.
Unsupervised access to inappropriate material is one reason.
Temptation to use the computer, period, is another (even for legitimate purposes -- how often have you found yourself up at 3:00am because you were surfing or watching a movie or gaming and lost all track of time?). I *still* struggle with this, and I intentionally moved my computers out of the bedroom so I could be more inclined to actually get sleep.
Artificial separation from family members would be another. I don't need to give them extra reasons to lock themselves in their rooms, separated and not communicating with their parents.
Here's an enlightening, but creepy, exercise. Visit some of the webcam streaming sites, like ustream.com, blogtv.com, etc. Click on the "who's on live now" links, and page through them. How many little boys and little girls do you see, broadcasting themselves to the internet? For even more fun, click into one of those streams and watch what sort of comments they're getting from their viewers.
Unsupervised access to inappropriate material is one reason.
Temptation to use the computer, period, is another (even for legitimate purposes -- how often have you found yourself up at 3:00am because you were surfing or watching a movie or gaming and lost all track of time?). I *still* struggle with this, and I intentionally moved my computers out of the bedroom so I could be more inclined to actually get sleep.
Artificial separation from family members would be another. I don't need to give them extra reasons to lock themselves in their rooms, separated and not communicating with their parents.
Here's an enlightening, but creepy, exercise. Visit some of the webcam streaming sites, like ustream.com, blogtv.com, etc. Click on the "who's on live now" links, and page through them. How many little boys and little girls do you see, broadcasting themselves to the internet? For even more fun, click into one of those streams and watch what sort of comments they're getting from their viewers.
No.
Been there done that.
One kid had a TV another had a computer. They used to hole up with the door closed.
Never saw them. Removed them from their rooms to public places.
Much better, in my opinion.
Been there done that.
One kid had a TV another had a computer. They used to hole up with the door closed.
Never saw them. Removed them from their rooms to public places.
Much better, in my opinion.
No way,
I'd never allow that, just more headaches than I need. I've got two kids, both too young to use the computer, but when they need/want to use it for something they can use mine.
There are a whole load of reasons I don't think it's a good idea. There are plenty of things online I'd rather them not get involved with, and a computer is just one more thing that steals from quality time with family. When I was in highschool, my parents got our first computer (an IBM aptiva IIRC w/ a pentium 150 processor and like 32 MB of RAM), it was in the family room next to the TV so if you used it you at lease were in the same room with someone else. Now I'm married and long since moved out, but my youngest siblings are still living with my mother and they are constantly on the laptops or text messaging with friends and god knows who else. They get all cranky when I ask them about it, and none of them will let me use their cell-phones, so I'm assuming that there's something going on that they don't want us to know about.
Either way, their is a big disconnect in todays teenagers, they live through their electronic devices. I think we are just seeing the beginning of this trend and I expect it to get worse. I'd like to avoid it in my children as much as possible.
SLC
I'd never allow that, just more headaches than I need. I've got two kids, both too young to use the computer, but when they need/want to use it for something they can use mine.
There are a whole load of reasons I don't think it's a good idea. There are plenty of things online I'd rather them not get involved with, and a computer is just one more thing that steals from quality time with family. When I was in highschool, my parents got our first computer (an IBM aptiva IIRC w/ a pentium 150 processor and like 32 MB of RAM), it was in the family room next to the TV so if you used it you at lease were in the same room with someone else. Now I'm married and long since moved out, but my youngest siblings are still living with my mother and they are constantly on the laptops or text messaging with friends and god knows who else. They get all cranky when I ask them about it, and none of them will let me use their cell-phones, so I'm assuming that there's something going on that they don't want us to know about.
Either way, their is a big disconnect in todays teenagers, they live through their electronic devices. I think we are just seeing the beginning of this trend and I expect it to get worse. I'd like to avoid it in my children as much as possible.
SLC
If I had a kid, yeah probably. But there would be serious parental controls and strict rules about the amount of time spent on the computer. There would also be a rule regarding extra-curricular activities at school. They would be required to be doing at least one extra-curricular activity. My parents forced me to do that, and it was the best thing they ever did. I got involved in tons of things after that.
Exactly. A computer in the shared living space is an opportunity to have fun together as a family. Research an article on Wikipedia together. (Edit an article together, when they get older!) Laugh at silly YouTube videos. Play games together. Even instant-message friends and family together with them.
There are times when kids expect privacy, and they deserve that. But the computer shouldn't be one of them.
Perhaps it is naive of me, but I would hope that we could foster that culture in a positive way without the need for "strict rules". For example, my parents never gave me a curfew, and I was thus never tempted to break one and never punished for doing so, because I was able to judge for myself what I should and shouldn't be doing with my friends late into the night. They knew they could trust me to make the right decisions.
I'd rather teach common sense and self-discipline rather than force a blind adherence to strict rules.
It depends on the kid. If my parents hadn't forced me out of the house, I never would have left.
Exactly.
I'm 17. MacBook Pro sits in my laptop bag or on my desk in my room.
I pretty much do all the tech-admin stuff for the household though (except pay the ISP bill,) so if anyone would set up any monitoring software, it would have to be me. The rest of the family uses Windows machines... and what do you know... I have to deal with it.
As far as monitoring goes... eh... not much of anything. And really, I don't think their needs to be.
I pretty much do all the tech-admin stuff for the household though (except pay the ISP bill,) so if anyone would set up any monitoring software, it would have to be me. The rest of the family uses Windows machines... and what do you know... I have to deal with it.
As far as monitoring goes... eh... not much of anything. And really, I don't think their needs to be.
Ditto.
I've never had a curfew in my life. Hell, I used to travel really really far (for an 11 or 12 year old...) by bus and train to the busiest parts of Toronto (downtown). Most parents would NEVER have let their kids do that without an adult present. I never did this alone though. My parents let me do it as long as my friend and I never split up and walk around alone. I was 11 or 12 when I started doing this with 2 or 3 of my other friends. It was always a really exciting thing for us to do (in 1992). We used to go down to HMV, look at all the CDs, and pick one out to buy. They didn't sell games and DVDs at the time, so it was allllll music.
Come to think of it, that was pretty risky. I don't think I'd let my kid do that until they turned 14, even though I turned out OK and didn't get into trouble.
Yes, **** happends and your teenager has to know about the world...
I had a computer before internet existed, so for me that helped me understand computers. Now a days there is so much to find online and "wrong stuff" (porn, executions, other sick vid's) happends, so i think i would let my teenager see for him self what the world is like.
Imo the question should be, would you have your teen have internet in their room.
Not that i want kids though
I had a computer before internet existed, so for me that helped me understand computers. Now a days there is so much to find online and "wrong stuff" (porn, executions, other sick vid's) happends, so i think i would let my teenager see for him self what the world is like.
Imo the question should be, would you have your teen have internet in their room.
Not that i want kids though
You don't have to experience bad stuff in order to know it exists. A lot depends on the common sense of the child and his ability to appreciate responsible behaviour.
I think a computer should be kept in a 'public' spot in the house. Even Dear Abby would agree with that one.