Should parents control their kid's online presence?

A research report, published lately, tells us that more than 50% of the parents control - by any means or other - their offspring's presence on the net. I spy, with my little eye.

Is that good or bad? I never had kids of myself, but spent my career in teaching. Imo it's wrong to spy on your children.

When my sister and I were kids, we were given rules by our parents - and we were also told what the world was about. We left the house for hours at an end, and I suppose our parents didn't have a clue as to what we were doing. We were trusted to do the right thing, and we knew we could always talk to our parents when something happened.

So I think parents can better spend time to make their kids understand that some care needs to be used in online presence. You can't deny it exists anymore. But why not warn your kids about the risk they are taking? Fifty years ago, we were told never to accept sweets from a stranger, or not to go with them when they promised us a toy. It's the same now. The bad guys are also on the web, but if you take care you can avoid being choses as their victim.

And you should also make kids aware that presence on the web is not everything! I remember a conversation I had with one of my ex-students. She was a beautiful girl, ripe beyong her age. She alway put up sexy pictures of herself on Instagram - and then she was surprised she got all kind of messages from guys who wanted to meet her! I explained it was partly her own fault. I advised her to only put up pictures decently dressed and not in sexy poses. The pestering stopped.

I think that young girls and boys must learn to follow their own mind, and not so much follow what other think or do. We've been raised that way, and it still comes in handy.

What's your take on this?