BS: Has the Internet changed kids?

Subject: RE: BS: Has the Internet changed kids?
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 24 Jan 04 - 06:19 PM

a) Sure the internet has changed kids - I was as skinny as a lath when i was a kid; now look at the little lardarses!

b) Kids always behaved fairly raucously *among themselves*. Now the discourse is often between children and adults in mixed company, without the children being able to actually see that they're speaking to an adult. So they behave in the same way as they do with their mates - much like a bundle of puppies, rolling and nipping and squealing.

If you want courtesy from them, behave a little formally; you could also bring a little realism to this by posting on the forum "I don't expect to be addressed like this; this time I won't inform the moderator..."

(As an adult, you're allowed to be a telltale ;)

Subject: RE: BS: Has the Internet changed kids?
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Jan 04 - 05:53 PM

lots of things have changed kids from what 'most' of them were 30-40 years ago...Television has probably done the most, but the internet will probably make the deepest and most lasting changes. Parents were 'generally' slower to learn about computers than their kids were, and started out at a disadvantage.

There is simply no easy way to monitor kids and the internet after about age 12, when they can simply go somewhere else and connect. You can install those 'spy' programs that tell you everywhere they've been on YOUR computer, but that doesn't address why they want to go there.

The only useful way to make sure YOUR kids have a chance of being the kind of kids you want is to have a good relationship with them and set a good example....with luck, they will then put 'internet' stuff in some perspective and not be like "Victoria".

Subject: RE: BS: Has the Internet changed kids?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jan 04 - 05:47 PM

Kim,

It seems to be a surly weekend out here in Mudcatland.

I agree with you--this girl's parents should be reining in that kind of behavior. If they know about it. I have a 15-year-old, and at the risk of being slapped down by another GUEST who thinks we shouldn't discuss our children (or is it only MY children that guest has such difficulties with?) it is part of an ongoing dialog. My daughter is bright, she's caring and generous, but she IS 15 and she's in that peer-pressure-cooker called high school. Suggesting to the 15-year-old you tangled with that her mother wouldn't like such language will only bring on a further torrent. It's a tough call as to what will bring that girl into line--give her 20 years and she'll probably figure it out. :)

Meanwhile, we try to keep a dialog going. It has its moments. I won't discuss particularities here because I encourage my daughter to participate at Mudcat. She can speak for herself these days, and does a very nice job of it. The only general advice I can give regarding the difficult individual on the other list is to engage her in substantive conversations, where the flippant or abusive stuff is inappropriate and if she wants to stay in the conversation she will have to behave herself.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Has the Internet changed kids?
From: Cluin
Date: 24 Jan 04 - 05:44 PM

Ha! Got there first!

Subject: RE: BS: Has the Internet changed kids?
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Jan 04 - 05:43 PM

No, still is.....

Subject: RE: BS: Has the Internet changed kids?
From: Cluin
Date: 24 Jan 04 - 05:43 PM

Still is.

Subject: RE: BS: Has the Internet changed kids?
From: Ebbie
Date: 24 Jan 04 - 05:39 PM

Oh dear. Clinton, I just got a flash as to what kind of kid you were.

Subject: RE: BS: Has the Internet changed kids?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 24 Jan 04 - 05:26 PM

I remember when there was no internet...

People, kids or otherwise, were still 'foulmouthed'

It didn't matter then and it doesn't matter now...

Maybe you should take this kids advice...

Subject: BS: Has the Internet changed kids?
From: Kim C
Date: 24 Jan 04 - 05:22 PM

I'm on several discussion boards (because I like to discuss), one of which is an extremely irreverent forum for Civil War reenactors. Since most boards make us stick to historical topics, some enterprising soul set up a group where we could go and pretty much say anything. (hey, not unlike Mudcat!)

There are several teenagers on the board, one of whom is a girl named Victoria. She is a bright girl, but extremely full of herself, and rude to boot. Yesterday she told me to "get the fuck over it," after I told her she couldn't possibly advise me about anything she hadn't yet experienced. Now, I expect that from the adults. But when it comes from a kid..........

She's 15. I'm 36. I can't swear back at her. Heck, I probably wouldn't swear back at her even if she were an adult. It's not really my style. But I'm thinking that when I was her age, you didn't swear at an adult. It just wasn't done.

So I'm wondering, where's her mother? Does she talk that way to her mother? Does her mother let her talk that way to just anybody?

Dang, do I feel like an old bat. Is it just the times, or has the Net given people - especially kids - way too much leeway to run off their mouths?

KFC