Too young for the internet?

[ojimaru]

It was disturbing enough to read that article, let alone actually seeing the video. Frankly, though, material as described in the article can't be hidden behind an age gate. It's not even a question of maturity. Rather it's up to a person's personal moral standards to understand that such actions are just plain and simply wrong.

Dealing with a kid watching the video would really depend on his/her reaction to it. Some will be thinking it to be just a bad indie film, others traumatised, and there are also those who enjoy it. Each situation warrants an appropriate reaction, although the absolute best you can do, in terms of damage control, is to talk to them about it.

[diane]

Well, the fact that anyone would think putting that out on a chat is stunning, but I am not that surprised.

The kid at 3 saw people jumping from the towers.

The kid at 5 watched as my Grandmother took her last breath after we had removed the feeding tube from her broken body.

The kid at 7 saw bodies floating in New Orleans.

The kid has seen a lion rip a guy's arm off, a woman give birth and recently saw the burned body of my cousin right before he died.

Just today he asked me if I knew what waterboarding was and that we did it and that it was wrong.

I didn't plan on him seeing any of it. The closest thing would have been my Grandma since we knew she was dying. The rest was accidental at best with the lion and birth because a friend showed him.

What is sad is I have seen worse than that video. I worked for a company that trains Law Enforcement at all levels in things ranging from Interview and Interrogation to Homicide. I have read the Jeffrey Dalhmer interview transcripts. I didn't sleep for a week and I still can't add salt to my food.

Yes, if I had my way he would never see any of this, or anything close to this. But I can't. Everyday I see disgusting things human beings do to each other or things that they do in the name of entertainment (can someone please explain the purpose of the rape scene in Hills Have Eyes?). I have sheltered my son so much in comparison to other parents that he hasn't seen any of the Alien vs Predator movies and everyone of his friends have.

I am not concerned with my son seeing that video, I know him, he would turn it off and run to me, which in all honesty is probably better than I would have done at his age since I had been seeing Faces of Death videos at slumber parties where we all thought those were real.

I wish I was more shocked, but snuff films have been around since video was invented. But in the years that the kid has been on the internet, which has been roughly 5-6 years he hasn't ever come across anything close to that, and he googles everything and everyone. I just tried to find the video googling "man totured to death Ukraine" and the closest I got was a forums listing on a website that states "The Real Faces of Death". So unless you are allowing your kids on a chat that you don't know the people on or they are purposely searching out f*cked up videos of this sort of thing, I am not too concerned.

[dulica]

I teach preschool..and it's amazing that 3 year olds can work a computer! I know that I'd want to monitor all computer and internet use until 13 or so, and then like others have said, if I can trust my child, let them go with some simple parent controls....if I can't trust them it would all be run past me!
I didn't have an email until junior year of highschool! I know a 3 year old with a facebook page! it's crazy!

[wideawakewesley]

My 3yr old son recently mastered the trackpad on my laptop. I was so proud and scared at the same time

[diane]

You want to see something scary? www.hellhousemovie.com

Its a haunted house put on by a church that re-inacts the Columbine Shootings with teeneagers in order to try and scare people to get straight with God. And that is just one thing they act out in the haunted house.

[siraim]

I freely admit that I don't watch scary movies and I'm not a fan of watching video clips of people getting injured or dismembered. I live perfectly happy knowing that I don't have a clue what people are talking about when they chat about SAW 1 through 421, the Exorcist or any of the freddy/jason movies. They're not my cup of tea. I saw The Shining when I was 7 and that was enough.

<back on topic>

Access to the internet by young people is a privilege and it should be monitored as best you can. The only hope you have is to spend as much time teaching kids how to react/respond to situations so that you know they're prepared when they see/hear/feel something that is offputting. I can't be there every moment of the day physically, but I can hope that I influence the little voice in the back of their heads.