The danger in blocking the Internet too much

Ed Tech

Ed Tech | Monday, February 29, 2016

The danger in blocking the Internet too much

An Internet filter can protect students from harmful content, but often it protects them from inspiring, useful content. A stifling Internet filter can have negative consequences. (Public domain image via Pixabay)

An Internet filter can protect students from harmful content, but often it keeps them from inspiring, useful content. A stifling Internet filter can have negative consequences. (Public domain image via Pixabay)

It’s the nightmare of students trying to create or do research digitally. It’s the frustration of teachers seeking out the best resources to share with their classes.

The over-protective school Internet filter.

Many of us deal with them daily. We’ll do a Google search, see the perfect article or site to share with our students and won’t be able to access it. Or we’ll be primed to try something new in class and find that the digital tool our lesson hinges on is blocked.

As a Spanish teacher, one of my biggest frustrations was to find what I thought was the perfect “real life” article that my students could read and have no access to it. Lightspeed would tell me it was categorized “world-es”, which I believe means “it’s in Spanish and we’re not sure what it is, so we blocked it.”

The Internet filter debate is a dicey one. As educators, we’re required by law to protect students from harmful online content. But our students also desperately need us to connect them to relevant, engaging, interesting, thought-provoking ideas to prepare them for the world.

Where the line is drawn between those two extremes is a battlefield that educators, tech professionals and administrators have waged war for years.

I don’t have the silver bullet for solving that problem, but I do know this:

Having a “block first”, “say no first” attitude doesn’t help kids. It’s a philosophy in many schools and districts that has become “textbook,” and it’s one we desperately need to ditch.

The Internet is like the Wild West. Anyone can create a website, and anyone can publish any kind of content — whether it’s legit, false, slanderous, enlightening, obscene or inappropriate.

Trying to protect children with overly restrictive Internet filters doesn’t make it go away. Schools try to create “walled gardens” with Internet filters, but students have to walk outside those walls to go to the buses every day. On the way home on their cell phones, on their computers at home, using the WiFi at McDonald’s — they’re back in the Wild West.

Students don’t need walled gardens. What they need is guidance in how to manage the reality of the Internet. 

Sure, if we open the Internet up to more sites — even ones that students could abuse — they could get into trouble. They could stumble upon things they shouldn’t see, and they may bump into people who say things they won’t want to hear.

They’re going to get that their entire lives, though.

I would much rather help a student step out of a muddy mess he/she has stepped into online as a teacher and learn not to do it again than the alternative when that student becomes an adult. That alternative might be losing a job, destroying a relationship, or going to jail.

Children need adults who will help them learn to be safe and careful on the Internet much more than adults who turn a blind eye to it and pretend it doesn’t exist.

“But if we open these sites up, what if kids abuse them?” I hear variations of this concern all the time.

If we worry about the pitfalls all the time, we miss out on the summits that students can climb.

We get consumed by the “what ifs.”

But what about these “what ifs” …

What if kids find out about a cause that touches their heart and they use the web to research and create a campaign that makes real change — in their own community and beyond?

What if kids find tools that help them express skills they never realized they had — and then find a community of people to support them as they develop those skills into adulthood?

What if kids get connected to real-life experts in the fields that they’re passionate about, make some contacts that can help them in the future, and get started pursuing their passions before they graduate?

What if kids learn to harness the enormous power of the Internet and it changes their lives?

Sure, kids can abuse the access to the Internet that we give them. But they can also do some serious damage with pencils, and we give those to them every day.

If we block too much content, we make this restricted version of the Internet practically useless to kids, and kids are resourceful. If they need access to something on the web, they’ll find it somewhere else.

They’ll find it on their phones using cellular data that isn’t restricted. (Cell phone use isn’t allowed at your school? Do you think every “can I go to the restroom?” you hear is to really use the restroom?)

Some will even find portals that allow them to bypass the school’s filters and find what they really wanted anyway. We may find those portals and block them … but then they’ll find new ones, and that’s an exhausting, frustrating cycle of control that doesn’t make anyone better.

So, what can we do?

Let’s open up the discussion about what’s blocked and what isn’t. The decision process shouldn’t be controlled by a “Wizard of Oz”-style mysterious man behind the curtain. Teachers, administrators, tech staff, parents and even students have perspectives that add to the debate.

Let’s take a “yes first” mentality to opening up sites, or even a “let’s try it” mentality. We’re all in this to help kids achieve their potential, and if someone wants to try something that will inspire and educate kids, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt (unless there are clear dangers).

Let’s keep our eyes open to the dangers of the web, and let’s have frank, honest discussions with kids when they get into messes (or are headed toward a mess).

Let’s be our students’ voice and advocate for the change we know needs to happen.

Let’s empower teachers and students to create the best learning environment possible.

When it comes to setting Internet filters, instead of asking “What’s the worst that could happen?”, let’s ask, “What’s the best that could happen?”

Update: Check the comments below for a response by Jimmy Hogg, an IT professional, who gives a very well-worded rebuttal from the IT side of this discussion. It’s an important part of this discussion!

[reminder]What do we need to remember when it comes to Internet filters in schools? What can we do to make them successful and useful?[/reminder]

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  • A student says:

    Man when you say they will find a way around you don’t even know there’s a more or less school black market for vpns and work around and you have people “mining” for games web proxy’s etc. hell a teacher actually sold his teacher her password for sites more less we are the digital version of a thieve’s guild we are the pirate cove of the internet

  • mattio,
    i really support the stuff you write about but right now you blew my mind the this information you’ve given me

  • […] thought leader and author in the education space, feels the same way, as he proclaimed in a recent blog post: “Trying to protect children with overly restrictive Internet filters doesn’t make it go away. […]

  • Jimmy Hogg says:

    Matt,

    The following statement is one I made to one of our instructional technology specialist when she sent me your article. It was not meant to bash anyone but was just my way of expressing how many IT professionals feel on the subject. We often are put in a position that we really don’t want to be in. I think you have at least opened up dialog but I’m not sure any of us have found a real solution to the problem. I have reviewed a lot of your materials and have a high respect for your contributions in preparing our teachers for the technology age. You are making a difference and I respect that. So please don’t take my statements personally. However, I would like to hear your feedback on my statements below.

    xxxxx, thanks so much for forwarding this article it was a great read. The following are some of my initial thoughts and are NOT directed at any one person just my initial thoughts about the process with not a lot of time to reflect. I am not trying to push it off on our instructional leaders or parents but do feel they play a very vital role in the process as well as IT. Any ideas you have in getting EVERYONE involved would be beneficial. I am going to respond to the author and plan on talking to other IT professionals to see if anyone has anything to add. Thanks again for the read!!!

    AUTHOR: Students don’t need walled gardens. What they need is guidance in how to manage the reality of the Internet.

    OPEN FOR DISCUSSION: The author makes some very good points and I agree with many of them. I do believe the article is a little one sided but understand fully his frustrations. I think IT gets a bad rap on some of his points but again I understand.

    I agree 100 percent that no matter how hard we try we can’t protect our students and our children 100 percent from the “wild west” and we need to acknowledge this and provide them guidance. We as parents, teachers, and administrators need to witness them falling and need to be prepared to provide them sound guidance while helping them up. I would much rather be there by their side to direct them through times of trial instead of having them learn everything the hard way. Unfortunately, this is not how all parents feel and some expect us to prevent their child from ever falling. I don’t always agree with these parents but I respect their wishes. As IT professionals we are often the first ones they point at when a child accesses something parents feel inappropriate. I hardly ever hear of a teacher or a principal taking the heat for students accessing things parents feel inappropriate. Shouldn’t they also play a part in enforcing classroom management and in educating parents on the pitfalls? This is why many IT professionals tend to lock things down. They are the ones taking the heat and often with little support from their instructional leaders. Instructional leaders are the first to say open it up until one parent makes a call complaining. If a student gets to inappropriate content IT is required to spend countless hours investigating their access. They are also asked to account to the parents. In severe cases this has even led to technicians losing their job. As a parent and as an IT professional for over 30 years “I understand the reality of the internet”. I know that no matter what measures I take that I will never be able to block all inappropriate content from my child even in my own home. Unfortunately, there is NO technology that exists today that will block all inappropriate content. Every parent has their own definition of what they feel is inappropriate for their child. Some parents have a false sense of security thinking that they have it all locked down at home not realizing this is an impossible feat. This is why parents and instructional leaders need to get involved in educating each other and their children on these topics. I agree 100 percent that by tightening down the filters that we are blocking legitimate sites and that gets in the way of instruction. But do instructional leaders feel passionate enough to stand behind their decisions to loosen up filter restrictions or will IT still take the heat when parents complain about inappropriate access? It is extremely easy for some to stand back and say open the flood gates as long as they don’t have to get involved in the consequences.

    How many times did we flip flop on Youtube access in the last few months? On one hand a teacher will request us to lock down Hangouts because their students are using it inappropriately but on the other hand that same teacher will state we are too restrictive in our filtering and that we are standing in the way of instruction. Shouldn’t classroom management play a key role in what students access? I don’t know the answer but I do know it would be a lot easier on IT professionals if we could just open up everything except things required to be blocked by CIPA and require teachers to practice good classroom management. Wouldn’t students have better access to “relevant, engaging, interesting, thought-provoking content” if we could loosen up the filters and allow teachers and parents to take responsibility for guiding their students and children? The only way this can happen is if everyone realizes that there is no real automated way of protecting children from the “wild west”. All involved need to acknowledge they need to get involved and take responsibility for their day to day life and education and not leave it up to a imperfect automated process.

    I also understand that our district is in a delicate stage of it’s 1:1 initiative and acknowledge the initiative is under a microscope. I know it will only take one wrong move and one upset parent to put our initiative in jeopardy. So the real million dollar question becomes “What is the best that could happen” if we continue to lock down our students? They get to take advantage of the 1:1 program and get access to technology but get blocked more often then we would like. “Whats the worse that can happen” is we lose our entire 1:1 initiative because we opened up the filter and a parent reports it to the media and now our students have no access to technology for learning. I think many times educators think IT likes to lock things down but the truth is locking things down is a lot of work. We as IT professionals do get consumed with the “what ifs” because we are often held accountable for the “what ifs”. I am again 100 percent on board with open discussion and don’t really want the responsibility of being the “Wizard of Oz”. IT professionals would much rather have an instructional leader step up and become the man/woman behind the curtain but will they? Unfortunately, IT can’t run from the responsibility they must stand and assume responsibility if no one else will. We often try to include instructional leaders in our filtering decisions but find little interest when hard decisions are required. How can we fix this? Again, I don’t have the answers on this one. We often have individuals report the issues but seldom do they have any real solutions. This is a nation wide issue not just a local district issue. Districts across the nation struggle with these issues and I have not heard anyone come up with a sure fire answer to it.

    Again, I agree with most of what the author is stating but he only states his opinion without a real plan of action. He is able to state the obvious but again he doesn’t have to stick around for the consequences. I plan to forward this back to him in part to see how he thinks this can really be implemented. I know he says to open up dialog and I also agree with that but what results did he have in his own environment when he opened up dialog? Did he really come back with any solutions? If so, what were the solutions? I am anxious to hear his response.

    Just my .02 cents 🙂

    • Matt Miller says:

      Jimmy —

      First, I want to say thank you for taking the time to write this very well-worded response to my blog post. I truly believe the best way for us to come to the best solution in our quest to give kids the best, safest experience with the web is to have dialogue like this. I didn’t feel like there was any bashing … it was the kind of open, honest dialogue that we need.

      I love that you provided us with your 30 years of IT experience, and for many of us that are educators, this is an experience that we’re not familiar with at all. And you’re right … when something bad happens, IT usually is the one that gets the brunt of the blame.

      Important points from your response:

      — How many times did we flip flop on Youtube access in the last few months? On one hand a teacher will request us to lock down Hangouts because their students are using it inappropriately but on the other hand that same teacher will state we are too restrictive in our filtering and that we are standing in the way of instruction.
      — I also understand that our district is in a delicate stage of it’s 1:1 initiative and acknowledge the initiative is under a microscope. I know it will only take one wrong move and one upset parent to put our initiative in jeopardy. So the real million dollar question becomes “What is the best that could happen” if we continue to lock down our students? They get to take advantage of the 1:1 program and get access to technology but get blocked more often then we would like. “Whats the worse that can happen” is we lose our entire 1:1 initiative because we opened up the filter and a parent reports it to the media and now our students have no access to technology for learning.

      At the end of your response, you ask how I think this can really be implemented and what happened when I opened up dialogue like this. I’ve been very fortunate to work for small school districts where I can walk down the hall and talk to our IT professionals at almost any time to have an honest, open conversation about how to filter sites. Unfortunately, that openness doesn’t scale to school districts bigger than ours (which is most of them).

      I don’t think there’s a cut-and-dried solution to this issue. I do know that openness and communication are key. I’ve worked with so many school districts where there’s a LOT that’s locked down (even for teachers), and teachers and students feel like their hands are tied. In many of those districts, the immediate answer is often “no” without much thought of the pros and cons.

      Jimmy, it sounds like if there is a silver bullet to this solution, it’s you … IT professionals that are willing to go the extra mile to have honest, open, frank discussions about how the Internet should be filtered for children. Any venue for everyone — teachers, admins, IT, students, parents, etc. — to state their opinions and provide suggestions is key.

      Thanks again, Jimmy, for your response. I’d love to see anyone else’s thoughts on this delicate balance in the comments here.

  • Scott Shipley says:

    Matt,
    I wanted to thank you for this post on “the dangers blocking the internet too much”. For months now I have had parents asking for more blocking and I have wanted to send an explanation on our philosophy to all parents but, I needed some good talking points. After reading your blog…….I finally, found what I needed! You are positively affecting students everywhere….keep getting your message out!!
    Thanks

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