Today I was reading in newspaper an article about the potential hazards of Internet and social networking sites in particular for children. It mentioned that parents in India are increasingly becoming worried about what their child do on internet and how can he be kept safe from the risks of it.



The article talked about parents adopting various measures to keep a vigil on their children. Some have become a "friend" of their own children so that they can keep a watch on their activity. 1 Parent suggested that the schools should start "Internet Education classes" to educate children about the use of Internet and what precautions they should take just like "Sex education classes".



But its important to note that "Internet security" can be taught but not "common sense". An example of things that comes under these category would be-


Internet Security Tips-
1.) Do not run any script on your computer.
2.) Always sign out from your accounts.



Common Sense-
1.) Never tell your passwords to your "friends".
2.) Never send your pictures to unknown persons.



Internet security is easy to teach but not common sense. And it wouldnt be wrong to say that more damage is done because of user's own fault rather than the other person doing the damage.



So it is for the parents to teach children about the basic things they should do or not do on Internet and even in general life while the schools can maybe teach them about the technical part. Maybe its about time that parents take some responsibility to teach children about the basic "Do's and Dont's" rather than wanting school to teach them everything.