John Ness

How I Taught My 6-Year-Old to Use the Internet, and Not Let Google Take Her Allowance Money

[Commentary] I decided to hold my daughter’s hand as we waded into the Internet as it is. I explained to Bug that the Internet was like the outside world: There’s fun stuff there and there’s awful things kids shouldn’t see, so you can’t go without an adult.

When you’re out there, you don’t tell anyone your name. If they need a name to refer to you by, use a code name, so no one can trace it back to you. We demonstrated two important lessons: 1) Google is always trying to take your money, and 2) How to close pop-up ads.