March 29, 2024

Policing the internet

As my girls are getting older, we are once again looking at electronics and how much they should be used. I can remember one of the first columns I wrote for the paper was about electronics use and how to find the right balance. I can say we are definitely still working on finding the balance.

Now that the girls are in school, they use iPads, computers and other forms of electronics on a daily basis. They have great learning tools and help prepare them for the future, where they will inevitably need to use some sort device for school or work.

In the past few years we have added to our electronic repertoire with a new computer and updated iPods and iPhones. When we got the computer I didn’t know how interested the girls would be in playing on it. I knew they had a little experience from school but I was surprised at how quickly they took to it.

With the computer came computer games and the wide world of the internet. The girls had been on the internet through YouTube kids but that has pretty firm parent controls and the girls tended to watch videos about toys and animals.

My oldest had started expanding her viewing preferences and found a computer game named Roblox. Not knowing anything about it, I did a little research and found it to be similar to Minecraft, which I am also not an expert on but had heard of.

We decided to give it a try and downloaded the game on the computer. My oldest loves it. She can build amusement parks, build structures to escape monsters and work through complicated mazes with a variety of challenges.

We also found there are other games that we would rather steer clear of. I’m not naive to the dangers of the internet and Roblox has a messenger feature that I’m sure could be trouble. Also, after watching some of the games and how players “interact” with each other, we have narrowed down the acceptable games for the girls to play.

Another favorite pastime of the girls is watching videos on their iPods. It started out with videos about toys and moved to watching “Youtubers” play games. This is also another area where we had to put our parenting foot down and restrict what they would watch. For the most part, the videos are truly people playing games and commenting on them, but with that being said, I’d rather the girls be actively involved in a game than just watching.

In the past week, I decided to try out the website abcmouse.com with the girls. My oldest had mentioned it and I had already seen hundreds of commercials about the educational platform. It seemed like a good alternative to some of the other online activities available for the girls.

So far it has been a hit and my oldest is well on her way collecting tickets to be used for a prize to come. My youngest is still a big fan of PBSkids and the familiar characters from our morning cartoons.

I know we are still just at the beginning of the gigantic internet/social media world with the girls. I have plenty of fears about the day they ask to get a Facebook account and what the world will look like when they are teenagers. I hope we can just form a firm foundation around electronics use when they are younger to help guide us as they become more independent as they grow up.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com