Myspace and Facebook Banned on Library Computes?

Congress has been looking into banning access top popular social networking sites Myspace and Facebook on library computers according to switched.com. This is only the next step in a ling list of laws that have regulated what is the public library system. The government can use library records to check what type of books people have checked out and what web sites they have visited on library computers. Now it seems they want to become parents to our children. They want to ban Myspace and Facebook from library computers to protect our children for sexual predators. This is a misstep of public law. Placing a ban on Myspace and Facebook will not protect children from sexual predators. All it will do is to make these types of people find new ways to solicit the youth of America.

As parents, it is up to us to take the necessary steps to protect our children from sexual predators. Congress should not spend their time and money to police the library computers of people connecting to Myspace and Facebook when they could be solving budget problems of their own. As a parent, I have thought long and hard about ways that I can protect my little girl from these online dangers.

The first step we parents can take is to openly discuss our children's Internet usage with them. When you openly talk about what sites your child has visited with them, they become used to confiding with you about what they are doing on Myspace and Facebook. You should not use this discussion as a way to find out the evils of the Internet. You can ask what interesting facts that your child has learned online during the day.

The next step to keeping children safe online, especially on Myspace and Facebook, is to keep the computer located in an open family area. This way you can take a look at their computer screen from time to time to see what they are doing. If you see something on their screen that you do not understand, go back to step one and discuss it.

You need to limit the amount of time that your children spend on the computer. I have decided that I will give my daughter a base amount of time online each day for fun and games. Later on if she would like to be online more, she can earn more online time by doing chores. Limiting their time online will help to keep them from being stalked by online predators on places like Myspace and Facebook. It is much easier for a predator to stalk a child that is always online. They can build a relationship with the child in a short amount of time through email and instant messaging.

Congress should not have to ban Myspace and Facebook from library computers to protect our children. As parents, it is our duty to keep track of what our children do online. We need to keep an eye on our children and keep the lines of communication open so that we know what is going on in their Myspace and Facebook worlds.