There was once a time when the internet was seen as a niche hobby of sorts, linking people up to chat rooms and blogs that served no other purpose than to connect the world with itself. Nowadays, it would be hard to find someone in our modern society who doesn’t have an interest in the online landscape. We have mass amounts of knowledge and content at our fingertips, but there are risks to having unfiltered access to such information.
Adult content has never been more accessible than it is today, with little to no restrictions to prevent children from watching. Gory videos and pictures are only a few searches away. Plenty of manipulators and liars exist on websites and social media to entice large audiences and use them for selfish ambitions.
There is plenty of reasoning for why guidelines must be established, but the issue is not a simple fix. People will always find a way to gain what they can’t have, and it isn’t entirely fair to restrict the internet’s reach for responsible and sensible people. At this point, regulating the internet would be impossible for a country that has had full access to it for years.
Instead, our focus should be on informing the uninformed about the proper way to be online. Parents should be more conscious of what sites their kids are visiting and provide guidelines for how long they are on their devices. We should be more skeptical of who we follow online and always take everything with a grain of salt. Be aware of your limits and take a break from your computer every once in a while. Regulating the internet could help some people, but just being more aware is something that benefits everyone.
