[jamuko]

My parents used to be extremely paranoid about talking to strangers online. They would have flipped out if they had ever caught me in IRC or some chatroom for one reason or another. I wasn't even allowed to have AIM until I was 17 or 18 (after many arguments for it on my part).

Even now I'm afraid to talk about my online friends to my parents, even though I have some very good ones that I've known for years. They've just instilled in me some fear that they will get angry at me for communicating with them, even though they've gotten over that for the most part.

It's reasonable to be concerned about your child so that they don't get into any dangerous situations, but the media blows it WAY out of proportion. Finally my parents came to realize that the Internet is just like the real world - there are strangers, some of them potentially malicious, but for the most part they're harmless, just like any given population in the real world. Kids need to learn how to deal with both; not be completely cut off from it just because there is a small percentage of danger.