Virtual city, actual city

In this NY Times article, many parents worry about letting their children walk a few blocks to school. Fears of abduction stemming from the Jaycee Dugard story have made parents even more protective. So they drive their children to school, even if they live only fractions of a mile away, exacerbating problems of traffic congestion, fuel waste, etc.

But, says the NT Times writer, statistically such fears are unwarranted. Far more children are injured in car accidents than are abducted: about 250,000 to 115 annually.

Why is it then that parents are not equally fearful of their children walking the streets of the virtual city, the internet? I have compared the internet to a vast metropolis often in my thinking and conversation. You have nice places: candy shops, word games, bulletin boards, music and entertainment. You also have adult places: sex shops, tell-all gossips, casinos, bomb recipes.

Perhaps just as much cause for concern are spots that influence kids negatively but subtly: sites that advocate cynical urban rebellion, unbridled rage, hyper-casualness about sex, addictive soul-destroying activities like games that put a virtual weapon in your virtual hand and have you mercilessly kill others, and the coolness of other sites and sources promoting the same thing.

The best and most well-meaning parents, the most protective parents, will let their 10 year-olds wander these streets at will. Perhaps they will not be abducted (physically) (or maybe they will), but the harm is done in their hearts and minds. Their ability to relate properly with a spouse, their sense of compassion for those in need, their sensitivity to death and injustice, their ability to relate to the beauty which requires patience to see - these things are more are destroyed. And like an abductee who requires years of recovery after the trauma, internet street-walkers will need long reprogramming to function like normal humans again.

Then again, if every one gets screwed up in the head by the internet, maybe there will be no need.