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christian counseling today
VOL. 22 NO. 1
39
A mother made several phone calls to recommended babysitters in the
area, asking candidates what they would do in given situations. One
candidate intrigued her.
Mother: Would you keep my kids in my yard?
Candidate: Absolutely. In fact, I’m excellent at that.
Mother: Great! Would you keep strangers away?
Candidate: Yes, as much as I can.
Mother: Are you a pushover?
Candidate: No, I stand firm.
Mother: Wonderful! Is there anything you don’t do well?
Candidate: Yes. Your kids might climb all over me. I can’t do anything
about it. I’m not very effective with older kids. Over time, I can
become a pushover. The more your kids test me, the more I give in.
I’m not a very good teacher. In fact, I’ll unintentionally teach them to
go around my back. I won’t discipline them either. I won’t teach them
right from wrong. You don’t want to leave your kids with me too long
unsupervised. I give clear boundaries but, practically, they’re on their
own.
Mother: What kind of babysitter are you?
Candidate: I’m not a babysitter. I’m a fence.
This frustrated parent is the same one who might believe an Internet
filter or blocker alone can keep her child from ever intentionally or
unintentionally seeing online pornography. In fact, a recent national
survey
1
of nearly 4,000 people suggests that those using only Internet
filters and blockers are more likely to seek out pornography than those
who do not have any anti-porn software at all. More than 29% of general
population adults admit to looking for pornography at least once a month.
For those who have blocking technology installed, 39% of the general
population say they actively seek out porn monthly.
More sobering is the statistic that 54% of the general population says
it never seeks out pornography, while 0% of those using only online filters
said they never seek it out. Did you catch that? All of the filter users in
the study admit to seeking out online pornography! Why is this? It could
be that the user is struggling with looking at
pornography in the first place. Also, a filter or
blocker presents a challenge that the user may
want to defeat. They think, “Who can stop me?
I’ll outsmart you.” The question we should be
asking is what’s the motivation or incentive to
stop looking for porn for someone who simply
has a filter installed? Does anyone else know what
Web sites they’re trying to access? Not likely.
Are filters and blockers effective? It depends
on what you want. For small children, you may
prefer having a fence as opposed to not having
one. However, your involvement as a parent is
critical no matter what Internet safety strategy
you choose. The answer lies in accountability.
More on that later. So how do filters and
blockers work? They all use similar techniques to
try to stop the bad stuff and allow the good stuff,
but none of them are perfect.
Category Blocking
Some filters allow or restrict Web pages based
on categories. These filters are set to block any-
thing that involves sex, violence, guns, hate, or
any number of categories. However, they can
be tricked, worked around, allow bad content
through, and restrict good content. For example,
if you search for “breast cancer research,” the re-
sults may be blocked since it can be seen as a sex-
ual term. Looking for a gun for your next hunt-
ing trip? Those results may be blocked as well.
DAN ARMSTRONG
... your involvement
as a parent is critical no
matter what Internet
safety strategy you
choose. The answer
lies in accountability.