EDITORIAL - Avoid pitfalls of the Web
Past generations are generally remembered for the level of discipline that they meted out to their charges. Discipline was consider sharp and harsh and several adults of today reflect on this time with much disdain. As a result, many adults have made the decision to move away from this type of punishment because it is generally seen as a regressive step that does not improve the lives or behaviour in the youth of today. However, some parents still hold on to the belief ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’ and as such, continue to mete out discipline to their children and few have gone as far as to administer such punishment publicly.
A few examples of this occurred when young people explored their sexuality and committed acts of a sexual nature as well as other acts posted on social media. The decision of these parents to respond firmly and sometimes aggressively has also been publicised, and has been met with both positive and negative responses. Many who have watched these video clips are satisfied that this strong punishment is a course of action that is needed, especially at a time where there seems to be so much indiscipline in our society and throughout the Western world. Others have frowned upon it as being what they term too extreme, too late.
Adolescence, by it’s very nature, is a time that presents challenges of many kinds for teenagers and their parents. Frequently, an issue that comes with adulthood, particularly when an adult becomes a parent, is convenient amnesia as it relates to their own adolescence. However, we live in an age where technology is developing at a faster pace than most adults are comfortable with and our youth are embracing it and mirroring the wrong examples, very often assisted by the responsible adults’ lack of knowledge.
Most adults would have been raised in a more conservative time where children were seen and not heard and where any mention of sex was taboo, but the lives of children are much more open, especially with the advent of the Internet and social media. Every minute of the day, people across the world use social media as a primary source of communication and many become infamous due to the largely visual aspects of this medium. In short, parents’ challenges have quadrupled when compared with their own parents.
The lack of preparation for the advancement in technology is in part responsible for the backlash that we are now seeing on Instagram and other social media. Frustrated parents who feel that they do not have another choice are resorting to public discipline and humiliation through the same medium to teach their children a lesson, in hopes that they could dissuade them from similar behaviour in the future. However, if we say to our children that once something is posted online it is there forever, is this the course of action that a parent should take, since this too will follow the adolescent to adulthood?
As these posts ‘trend’ on social media, the future of the children with regard to future employers, careers and self esteem hangs in the balance. One cannot dispute that discipline is integral to a child’s upbringing, but when parents react with pure emotion and little logic, the result is public displays of discipline posted on the Internet. Some parents allow shame of their charges’ behaviour to govern their reaction, but in such cases, self control and a level head are more beneficial to both parties.
The Internet is ever growing. Therefore adults and children need to work together to discover and avoid the pitfalls of the Web. When it comes to the Internet, everyone has a positive contribution to make. Parents must try to stay one step ahead of their children at all times and remember that even though the youth today are computer savvy, adults have lived and experienced. Adults are encouraged to be positive guides and role models so that the youth can mirror that behaviour to become productive members of society.