The e-world is all around us. Many of us do not know about it. Probably, some do not even know what the “e” in e-mail stands for (it means “electronic”). But its wires cris-cross our lands, its ports of entry are found on every street, its wireless waves bounce around in airports, libraries, shopping malls and in our homes, and unwittingly we come into contact with its secret tourists daily.
It is in many ways a secret world; something like the underground movements of the occupied countries of World War II. It is a world of passwords, aliases, secret communication, code language (I still don’t know what ‘lol’ means), discreet relationships, etc. An unknown world to many.
Yet, whether we like it or not, the e-world is there, and it is real.
Many of the older generation (above 30) are familiar with it, but actually quite naive as to its real potential. The e-world can be quite frustrating to sporadic and elderly (above 30 or so) visitors. For example, we have almost all heard of email, and probably most know how to use it, but our electronic skills stop there – “Forward an email? Save an address? Open an attachment? How do you do those things?” And how the younger generation can click from one thing to another, and find so much in such a short time, is beyond our comprehension. “Find what on the web? Where? How do you do that?”
This e-world can be very useful. For example, within an hour, from a laptop computer, running on a battery, with a wireless connection (something you can sit on the roof top of your house with, or on the back patio if you prefer) you can,
1) reserve a book at the local library after searching for it in all the libraries within 200 miles --this takes about 3 minutes,
2) check your bank balances and make a transfer from one account to another – this takes about 3 more minutes,
3) go to the local weather page and make sure there are no storms coming to drive you indoors – this takes about 2 minutes,
4) start typing an email to a relative on the other side of the country or world, and then notice that that person has popped up as on-line on your instant messenger, and so, instead, chat for a few minutes there – this will take up 5 to 10 minutes, but you did get to say hello, find out what they were doing that day, arrange a Christmas get together on their side of the world,
5) then you can go to a travel site and check prices on airline tickets for this Christmas get-away, and book and pay for them too if you like, as well as reserving a rental car at 50 % off and checking out local hotels and tourist hot-spots – another 10 minutes or so,
6) then, you might be reminded that your utility bills are due, and so go to the phone and electric and gas company web-sites and pay those bills -- which may take 15 minutes -- so instead, you can go to your bankers page and ask them to pay those bills for you monthly right out of your account.
And so on.
Banking, e-mailing, instant messaging, news, weather, travel, up to date sports scores and radio from around the world, shopping (that’s big in the e-world), filing income taxes, online live college courses and much more is all at your finger tips from your back patio with an un-wired 2-3 pound laptop.
Why am I writing all this? Because, whether you like it or not, the e-world is there and its going to affect your life somehow and those effects may not all be good.
There are two things that are especially true about this e-world. The first, it is a dangerous world. The second, the experts and common visitors to this world are the young (teenagers).
These two things taken together mean that even if you want to ignore this world, or just use it to send e-mails (“How do you send attachments again?), still it is likely to have a negative impact on you and your family through your children, and it may even be a tool that destroys the children, morally, spiritually, emotionally, and even physically. The older generation, the parents of teenagers, cannot be naive as regards this world.
The e-world is a growing world that is transforming the lives of people. Numbers of internet users have risen sharply over the last 5 to 10 years. According to Steve Almasy (in an on-line CNN report entitled, “The Internet Transforms Modern Life”), in the mid 1990s the top three Web sites, AOL, Netscape and Webcrawler, had audiences of 4 million to 6 million people per month. Today, those numbers have risen beyond one billion and are still growing. The ones who are growing with it, learning it and staying in touch with its technology are the young, “the internet generation.”
These very young, are also the very young in our covenant homes and Christian schools. Parents need to be aware. The e-world is the evil-world getting into our homes and lives. It breaks down the antithesis, it undermines parental supervision and instruction, it brings young people into unhealthy acquaintance with the ungodly, it becomes a tool for communication and rebellion between young people, it exposes them to the filth of the “sex-crazy” world, as well as exposing their identity to pedophiles and predators. These things are real. Our teenagers know it. And every parent needs to be aware of it.
On my desk I have an array of articles about children and internet use and safety. I hardly know where to start with them. They all make a point, and the point is this, parents cannot be naive about this e-world.
It used to be that parents worried about the influence of television on their children’s souls. This should still be a major concern, but the concern with the internet should be greater. The computer is not just an email port, but a gateway to corruption and vicious enemies of soul and life.
One web site I ran across – safeonline.com -- lists some facts about the internet porn industry (back in March 2000, mind you). First, some facts about the industry are listed,
1. Over $10 Billion spent on porn annually.
2. Larger than NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball combined
3. Over two million known porn site URL’s
4. More than 2,500 new sites coming online every week
5. Pornography is obscenity, not “free speech,” and has never been protected by our Supreme Court
6. Most of it is temporary and hard to find, to punish legally.
7. Most of it originates off shore, not covered by US law.
8. Unimaginable things most people would not even remotely consider sexy are routinely available on the Internet.
Then, a few facts that show the Scale of the Problem are listed.
1. Nine out of 10 children aged between eight and 16 have viewed pornography on the Internet. In most cases, the sex sites were accessed unintentionally when a child, often in the process of doing homework, used a seemingly innocent sounding word to search for information or pictures. (London School of Economics January 2002)
2. 25 million Americans visit cyber sex sites between 1 10 hours per week. Another 4.7 million in excess of 11 hours per week. (MSNBC/Stanford/Duquesne Study, Washington Times 1/26/ 00)
3. Even 51% of pastors say cyber porn is a possible temptation. 37% say it is a current struggle (Christianity Today, Leadership Survey, December 2001).
4. 63% of men attending "Men, Romance & Integrity Seminars" admit to struggling with porn in the past year. Two thirds are in church leadership and 10% are pastors (Pastor's Family Bulletin, Focus on the Family, March 2000).
5. 1 in 7 calls to Focus' Pastoral Care Line is about Internet pornography (Pastor's Family Bulletin, Focus on the Family, March 2000).
I say, an enemy to the soul. What is pornography, but that? It is a strong appeal to base sinful sexual desires. It destroys minds, homes, marriages, children and more. And, it is at the finger tips of those who happen to have an internet connection, at the finger tips of our children. |
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