If I ask you to imagine a parent's utopia, you'll consider what you know about parents, identify the values you assume would be important to parents, and then imagine a society that serves or promotes said values. Consider the number of assumptions you need to make, particularly if you are not a parent yourself; even if your assumptions about parental values are correct, you'll find it difficult to scale up from the family unit level to a society-wide level without making even more assumptions. It's okay, so long as you are aware of it. Use your imagination, and cherish your doubts about whatever you conclude.
Writing for InformationWeek, Sharon Gaudin reports that
More than 70% of the surveyed children, ages 11 to 17, said their parents ask them about their online activities, but they may not be getting accurate answers. ... Forty-three percent of teens who use social networking sites said a stranger invited them to meet within the past year. At the same time, nearly 40% of children ages 11 to 17 reported receiving a sexually explicit e-mail or pop-up advertisement within the past year. Nearly 100% of the children surveyed said they use e-mail.
Read the whole article here: Kids Don't Tell Parents The Truth About Online Activities
Your interpretation of this data will vary depending on the role you choose for yourself, consciously or unconsciously. Identify with the children and you may wish them freedom from intrusive supervision. Identify with the parents and you may decry this exposure of the young to the seemier side of the adult world. The facts that you were once a child yourself and had parents of your own will both help and hinder your analysis.
As a thought experiment, let's imagine a perfect world, or, at least, a perfect society. What would parents be like? And their children? Having imagined perfection, try to outline the steps it would take to get us there.
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