The Need to Check Underage Access to Adult Material

"Nations should cooperate to develop regulations that limit children’s access to adult material on the Internet."*

*The Internet is a worldwide computer network.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

I completely agree with the above opinion.

The Internet revolution is an information revolution. Not only does it allow fast dissemination of knowledge, it also adds wheels to the speed of research, data mining and data analytics. However this revolution does not come without its pitfalls. One of the biggest problem faced by Internet is that there are very few, if any, controls or means of knowing the correct age of people accessing this vast storehouse of data. The question becomes especially pertinent due to indiscriminate  proliferation of pornography and other adult material on the Internet. 

Instead of a systematic sex-education youngsters get exposed to a debilitating world of fanciful lust. This can not just pervert and disturb the young minds, it can also lead to youngsters believing in unproved sexual myths and falling prey to manipulative paedophiles. If there are no punitive measures against websites that do not do any effort to check the age of people visiting their website, this will not stop. It will not help if only one nation takes these measures unilaterally as the problem is not limited to any one country. On the other end of the chain parents need to be made aware of this threat and held accountable to keep a check on their ward. A lot of underage access can be easily cut down by using filters or child locks. Only the Government has the means of enforcing such legislations.

Shakespeare said that the child is the father of man. Protecting our children is a duty that we cannot disown and hence it is extremely important for all nations to develop regulations that limit children's access to adult material. Only such a combined and resolute effort can deter proliferators of pornography and force parents to monitor the progress of their underage wards.