"I was just watching Annoying Orange on YouTube. It's hilarious," proclaimed my eight-year-old daughter as she bounded down the stairs and added, "You should check it out, Dad."
One of my eyebrows raised as I started to wonder what the heck an "Annoying Orange" was and then was immediately joined by the other when the entirety of her sentence registered and I realized she was now surfing the Internet all by herself in her bedroom.
The PC is located in the family room in plain view of everyone, and she can only use the laptop when we are with her. So how was this happening?
I recently upgraded to an iPhone 4 and gave my immaculate iPhone 3GS to my wife, which left a miscellaneous iPod Touch (my pre-iPhone anything toy) kicking about the house.
Yes, I know I buy a lot of gadgets and toys.
I have a problem.
Don't you judge me.
As some of her friends were already using similar iPods, we gave our daughter the device, after I had deleted all of its old contents and uploaded a ton of music, Barbie movies, and any apps to do with fairies, Taylor Swift and the aforementioned Mattel plastic poster girl.
I also left it connected to the home's Wifi network.
One of her friends from school showed her how to use it to look things up on YouTube and Google, although to be honest, she already knew from watching us use the computers at home.
My mistake was not having a talk about the Internet and giving some guidance, education and ground rules before handing over the iPod to her in the first place.
I'm too trusting sometimes, and she's a pretty honest kid.
It's just fortunate she has also has a pretty clean mind, and a penchant for funny or silly things to watch, as well as all the Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift and Barbie stuff.
When I was eight, if I had discovered the ability to look up anything - and see pictures and videos of those things, anytime and in the privacy of my bedroom - well, let's just say I wouldn't have been looking at talking oranges.
I think at that age I'd already discovered a couple copies of Playboy magazine my father had in a box somewhere in a shed.
Afterwards, I can distinctly remember I spent quite a lot of time in school, at home, and in the privacy of my room just not thinking about talking oranges for hours.
YouTube does make you log in to an account and digitally "sign" that you're over 18 to see or hear anything adult on its site. But it's easy really for anyone to see that content and it can be anything from PG trailers for porn movies to fetish fashion and dirty-talking Dominatrixes (as examples - not as my personal playlist, mind you).
For parents who may have a child like I was, you can download alternative browsers (the iPhone/iPod's native Safari does not support parental blocking), or use other paid-for apps like Mobicip, which let parents really filter and control the content kids see on their iPhones or iPods.
No matter how you want to do it, make sure you're talking to your kids about the Internet and the potential dangers lurking therein.
Gone are the days when the worst thing a kid could see was a faded girlie mag in a shed, and the Internet can show a lot more than just an Annoying Orange.
