Lulu: Yeah, all those letters are like, you should totally check your kid’s cell phone. But it seems like they are advocating random checks, unannounced.
Ashley: Not the same as the original problem at all.
Lulu: I also don't believe that crap about how things are more dangerous now so you should value security over personal rights. All:
The world has changed with this technology, and the attention we pay as parents must change with it. I strongly urge the parents at my school to check their children's phones and computers regularly.Ashley: It’s all so doom and gloom, and I don't like the security mentality at all, especially the police officer who wrote in. Yeah, he sees a lot of the bad stuff, but he's biased because he never knows the proportion of bad stuff to good stuff.
As a crime prevention officer, I regularly encourage parents to check a child's cell phone for bullying and sexting, most of which a child won't share with a parent. Especially if the child is the one who is using the phone to bully others, she certainly won't share her pictures with her parents. Most children are unaware that state laws have not changed, and children who send pornographic pictures of themselves to others can be charged with distributing child pornography and may have to register as a sexual predator for the rest of their lives.Ashley: Oooh, nevermind, "crime prevention officer," not police officer. Seriously, it's a stupid law that you can be prosecuted for exploiting yourself; it's the law that needs to be changed, not the behavior.
Lulu: Right. Just because technology can be abused doesn't mean you shouldn't use it and I don't understand the mentality where you treat your kids like they're in maximum security prison until they're 18, because then they're just 18 year olds with the maturity of 12 year olds.
Ashley: Well, given the current imprisonment rates, maybe that's not the worst preparation...
Lulu: ha!
Ashley: It’s something like 11% of all men and 32% of black men are expected to spend time in jail, so... But it still doesn't explain policing the girls though. Girls don't go to prison.
Lulu: No, apparently they end up on child porn websites. I guess the idea of keeping their phones from them till they're 18 is that then they will go onto ADULT porn websites.
Ashley: Much better!
Lulu: I mean, the general lesson that you should think before you act is not limited to cell phone use and also impossible to teach.
Ashley: Thinking before I act has never been a strong suit, and I turned out juuuust fine.
Lulu: ...
Justification always makes you sound more wrong. I think the best policy if you are going to do something in a questionable area is just to admit that you are going to do it because A) You want to and B) You have the power to do so.
ReplyDeleteExample 1: I pirate movies (just kidding, law enforcement) because I want to see movies but I don't really want to pay for them. I do not do this because I believe that information wants to be free or any other bullshit.
Example 2: If Eliot Spitzer had come out and said, hey, listen dudes, I love me some filthy nasty whores and my wife won't let me drop the Lord Byron on her... well, that is a guy I'm voting for.
Security blah blah, child porn blah blah. We are parents, we have the ability to look at our children's phones, we want to do so, therefore we will. End of the real story.