Our lives have become heavily reliant on the internet. We use it for everything from checking email to ordering food delivery services. It is a convenience that blurs our definition of safety. As adults, we have the ability and power to decide upon what types of websites we visit, whom we speak to, and how we conduct our cyberlives. The problem is that unsrcupolous individuals have found loopholes in the safety that we believed to be built into the internet. Phising sites and porn sites find a way into our systems and very often, open up our systems, both at home and at the office to potential hacker attacks and viruses. Considered the unknown frontier of the 21st century, we have come to realize that not all is well in the cyberworld and that we will very often need protection from it. The first line of defense? An internet filter.
Basically, an internet filter is a software program designed to block access to questionable websites and web content. By doing so, we protect our systems from experiencing any work disrupting scenarios and offers us a chance to safely surf the web without having to worry too much about internet security.
The most important use of the internet filter though, seems to be in blocking out questionable websites from the home computer that children have access to. Parents know that children are of a curious nature and do not think twice about clicking on various advertisments on the internet that they find interesting. More often than not, a child will click on a link that could take them into a pornography website. Once there, nobody can predict what could happen and what kind of people the child will meet.
Internet filters give parents a sense of control over their children in the only area of their lives where parents cannot get in, that is the internet. By installing the internet filter, a parent can help protect their children from pedophiles and other ill intentioned people who proliferate the web by pretending to be children. According to the National Institute on Media and Family, these sofware programs work in various ways to protect the child. Methods such as “(a)Scanning sites and blocking those that contain specific words. (b)Blocking sites that are found to contain sexually explicit, violent or hateful material. (c) Limiting a child’s search to a predefined set of sites or to sites that meet certain criteria. “, all help to insure that children have a layer of security and protection even when their parents are not around to actually make sure they are safe.
However, there are still some people who do not advocate the use of internet filters. These are the people who believe that internet filters have connections with religious beliefs of over controlling parents. These are the people who do not understand that internet filters do not totally block ones internet access. Rather, as most adults have discovered, internet filters can be customized to meet your internet surfing needs.
Children tend to view internet filters are extensions of their parents trying to control their lives. This is a misconception fueled by parents lack of communication with their children. Once a parent chooses to install an internet filter, that parent must and should be willing to openly discuss the hazards of the internet with their children and explain that the filter is there to protect them, not hinder their enjoyment.
Internet filters were created for a reason. The threats posed by the unregulated internet websites and surfing habits are real and could have horrific consequences in real life. The need to protect onself is always of the foremost concern when entering into a world where everyone is a faceless stranger going by an avatar image and a concocted screen name. That is why it is important that we use internet filters during our daily computer use.
Bibliography / References
National Institute On Media And The Family. (2000). Internet filters: making web surfing safer for children. Web.
Stromberg, Jonathan. ( 2008). Why should I buy an internet filter?. Web.
Treating Pornography Addiction. (2006). The top internet filters. Web.
Young, Ricky. (2007). Bypassing internet filters at work – should you risk it?. Associated Content. Web.