Researchers: Forget Internet Abstinence; Teens Need some Online Risk

By Dian Schaffhauser 05/16/16

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/05/16/researchers-forget-internet-abstinence-teens-need-to-face-some-amount-of-online-risk.aspx

My note: after years of imposing Internet filters at schools, “cap” students’ natural curiosity by denying open access to the Internet, etc., this is the first article, which openly defies the bureaucratic / technocratic approach to regulation of the acquisition of knowledge at American schools.

the conclusion from a Pennsylvania State University research project that examined adolescent online safety. This approach includes an important role for teachers as “trusted confidantes” and “educated advisors.”

The results, “Dear Diary: Teens Reflect on Their Weekly Online Risk Experiences,” were published by the Association for Computing Machinery and presented at the organization’s recent Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

“Teens have a strong sense of cost vs. reward, so if we can educate them more clearly on the costs associated with their actions, they may make better decisions on their own,”