Harlen Coben's Argument Essay

Harlen Coben, editorial,¨Undercover Parent ¨( March 16,2008 ), claims that parents should monitor their teens and what they do on the internet. The author started off being against this idea, but then he sat down at a dinner with his friends whom convinced him otherwise. The author backs up his reasons after his anecdote. The authors purpose of this article is to make sure that parents are doing their best to protect their teens from the dangers of being online, in order to establish total and complete safety with his or her teen/teens. The intended audience for this article is parents with teenagers or kids who have access to the internet, now assuming the author has teens of his their would be some connection made with the audience their.

I would have to say that some things that I agree with that Coben said was, he mentioned giving your child a heads up before putting spyware on the teens
electronic device/devices. Coben also mentioned coming to your children in a subtle way, a way in which your child won't get angry or offended when and if you find something bad on their electronic device/devices. I like how Coben uses a great deal of pathos in his article, for example ¨ One friend of mine, using spyware to monitor his college-bound straight-A daughter found out that not only was she using drugs, but she was sleeping with her dealer.¨ Another thing I would like to point out is that Coben is really reasonable, sometimes, with what he is saying. For example, instead of just going on ahead and putting spyware on your child's computer to find out who your daughter likes or who your son's friend is dating, but to use spyware to monitor any or what could be any ¨dangerous chatter¨.

Although I have pointed out the things I agree with Coben saying or some of his actions I agree with, their is some things that I don't quite agree with.
Coben, even though he is very reasonable, is encouraging the invasion your child's privacy, for example ¨ posting thoughts on the internet isn't the same thing as hiding them under your mattress. Maybe you should buy your child one of those key locked diaries....¨ you never know, maybe your child has a private account that only him or herself can read just to jot down thoughts and/or personal things, it isn't always the situation where your child is a bad person and posts malapropos or malicious pictures or thoughts/ideas where everyone can see. Coben also doesn't take into consideration what teens may think of this ¨spyware¨ maybe your child is very trustworthy and their parent reads Cobens essay and after profoundly thinking about it, decides to put an app or parental locks on their child's computer that sends reports and/or checkups on teens to parents, that is gonna make your teen wanna hide things from
you.

I would have to say that although Coben makes some really good points in his article that there is still allot of grey areas. Teens should be able to go on the internet freely, yes an annual check up should be absolutely fine, but don't go all ballistic and stalker status on your teen. I have seen from my own experience that teens who are being on constant watch or lock down usually end up being the most troublesome when they become adults. Children with helicopter parents usually tend to try and hide allot more from their parents and they also have tendencies to trust no one which would be problematic if you want your child to grow up with proper social skills. I think the point should be to establish trust and safety with your teen, not to just automatically assume your teen is doing bad things online that is a form of belittling in the mind of your child and will drive a wedge between the two of you. Teens should be able to make mistakes so they can learn with them.