Internet zone: Children below 13 keep out!

Who said the Indian Net surfing community is a bunch of upwardly mobile,

liberal minded souls of tomorrow? You may have heard of Indian teenagers hitting

the jackpot in the area of Internet with their original ideas and power

technical know-how. However, if the present Internet community is to have a say

in the future generations preparation for the Internet onslaught, things do not

seem to be smooth, if one goes by the results of an online poll conducted on

CIOL last week.

CIOL readers were asked how long they thought a 13-year old child should be

allowed to surf the Internet in a week. The final result surprised us all. Of

the 312 votes cast in three days, an astonishing 44 per cent (134 votes) firmly

said that children should to totally barred from using the Internet!

On the other hand, a handsome 22 per cent (69 votes) felt that there should

be no restriction on the time period and they should be allowed to surf as long

as they want. On how long they should be allowed, the voters seemed to be

following the view of "the less the better". 18 per cent felt that the

children should be allowed for one to two hours a week. While, nine per cent

were for 3-4 hours a week, eight per cent wanted higher time period of 5-6

hours.

What could this possibly be reflecting? It has been almost five years since

Indian first got the taste of the Internet. However, the fear of the new medium’s

potential disastrous effects and doubt over its possible desirable applications

still mar the Indian surfer’s psyche.

The poll results are a contrary to what the facts are. The average age of Net

surfer’s in the country would fall in the category of youngster. The More and

more students in their teens are reported to be jumping into the Internet

bandwagon with their original ideas. One also gets to hear scores of dotcom

companies that being launched in the country.

As more and more homes get connected to the Internet, children accessing it

will only be on the rise. The netizens of the country are also more experienced

and a matured lot. Complaints of Internet being a place for sex and violence are

few these days. Greater attention goes into the use of the Internet for personal

and community development.

Hopefully, things will change as the population of netizens grows. Perhaps, a

repoll on the issue after a few months will be an interesting exercise.