I chose prompt number two, about parents having access to their child’s email, facebook, or myspace account. I chose this one because I feel that parents have the right to see what their children are doing online. To me it’s no different from talking with their kid’s friend’s parents; this is just the virtual way of doing that. In my experience, it’s best that parents have this access. In high school my friends had myspaces and their parents knew about them. On occasion my parents would google my name to see what track articles came up. With those articles came pictures of me that my friends had posted on their pages. By clicking on them, my parents were able to access their entire page, even though they were set to private. Thankfully none of these pictures were inappropriate or disrespectful. But it does show that anything you put up can be seen by ANYONE.

For my argument, I am stating that parents have the right to monitor a child’s internet activity. They should be able to know if they are in trouble, getting hurt, or doing something they shouldn’t be doing. I do think that parents should not “sneak” the password without their child’s permission. This will only ruin the relationship that they have together. It breaks trust and it’s hard for children to forgive their parents. By being able to monitor a child’s internet access, parents will also be able to further their internet intellect. With parents able to navigate the internet, they will be able to see what is out there on cyberspace. With parents knowing what is out there, they will be able to trust their children more. With more trust parents will be able to loosen up the reins on their control over the internet.