Are You “Internet Illiterate”? Maybe You Shouldn’t Have Children   - 1,521 Views, 1 Comment

Researchers surveyed 1,511 children between the ages of nine and nineteen, along with 906 parents. According to the London School of Economic’s Sonia Livingstone, “Now that many young people rely on the Internet for information, homework help and careers guidance, the more it matters that some of them are getting left behind. Not knowing how to best use the Internet may have a negative impact on their education and employment opportunities.”

Now, this begs the question, if knowing how to use the Internet is that critical to a child’s future education and employment opportunities, and we are not convinced that it is to the extent that the London School of Economics is making it out to be, but assuming that it is, whose responsibility is it to ensure that these children learn how to use the Internet effectively? Is it the same people whose responsiblity it is to ensure that these children learn to use mathematics effectively? And how about their written and spoken language?

And, who would that be? Who should it be?

I mean, good gosh, in many countries, including such “developed” and “rich” countries as the United States, there are still plenty of children who can’t even string a sentence together properly, or do simple arithmetic. And who have no access to computers at all - let alone an Internet connection.

Whose responsibility is that?

But all that aside, the point, and I’m sure that they do have one, seems to be that if you aren’t Internet-literate, you will be hurting the future of any children you may have. If you don’t have any children yet, it’s not too late to either get Internet literate, or to forego having children.

But then again, you’re here reading the Internet Patrol, so by definition you must be Internet literate. So, nevermind.