NEW! Parental Controls Product Guide: 2010 Edition

By Stacie Rumenap

In a few days, the FCC will release its’ National Broadband Plan to bring high-speed Internet to all Americans.  Chairman Julius Genachowski is hopeful that by working together, we’ll come up with innovation and technology-based solutions to empower parents and protect our children.  Stop Internet Predators couldn’t agree more. 

When FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined last week how the new National Broadband Plan will benefit children and empower families, he reminded parents to think about the differences between today and when they grew up…how families of his generation probably had one television in the living room, and how watching a favorite band on the Ed Sullivan Show was a weekend highlight. 

Today, however, is a whole new world, filled with many more screens that can bring along powerful opportunities even if they do bring along dangers and pitfalls.  Families no longer gather around their one television screen to watch the news.  Instead, today’s households are equipped with multiple televisions, computers, cell phones and gaming systems that allow us to connect to one another and worlds we didn’t know existed even 15 years ago. 

As such, Genachowski made several compelling arguments that technology and safety should and can go hand-in-hand:       

• First, children are our most precious national resource who deserve to be educated and prepared to navigate today’s digital world. 
• Second, empowering parents is an essential strategy in keeping kids safe online.
• Third, the government has an appropriate, but limited

  , role to play.

• Fourth, the First Amendment is a core American value that must be honored even in a digital world.
• Fifth, markets have untapped potential to drive innovative solutions.  Therefore, government and consumers shouldn’t attempt to slow down technology, but should instead pursue strategies to unleash technology solutions to technology-related problems.

 High-speed Internet and digital technology allow new ideas and creations to be shared with anyone.  It spreads opportunity farther, faster, and more equitably than any other medium.  For our children, the Internet has the potential to improve every aspect of their lives. 

 Consider education.  With online learning, kids anywhere can have access to the best teachers in the world, and access to up-to-date e-textbooks and high-quality tutoring.  Studies show that low-income children who use the Internet more at home have higher GPAs and standardized test scores than children who use it less. 

 But of course these new technologies also expose children to new dangers from harassment to online predators.

 A recent Kaiser study found that children consume recreational media more then 7 hours a day and are consuming nearly 11 hours worth of content.  When the same study came out in 2004 and reported 6 hours of daily media consumption, experts said it was impossible for the number to go higher.  If you’re a parent of a teen with a cell phone who can send texts faster than the blink of an eye, you know all too well that number will only go higher which leaves many parents asking if they should embrace new technologies or worry about them. 

 The answer is both, and ensuring children have access to broadband—pitfalls and all—should be a goal.   

 Stacie Rumenap is president of Stop Child Predators, a national non-profit organization that combats the sexual exploitation of children and protects victims.  For more information, visit www.stopchildpredators.org.