"The Information Highway." The number one thing is to realize the highway is a dangerous place for your child.

Contributed By:Dorothy Nevils

Remember that phrase, “information highway,” said with a hint of a smile in the voice, if not on the lips? It was a promise, kind of like the one that hangs around in the early darkness, playing at a child’s lips until, in a losing battle, the jaw muscles give in and, with a quiver, the young face relents, and sleep wins.

“The Information Highway.” The pronouncement was, I imagine, much like the announcement to the families in the colored cars as the City of New Orleans crossed the river at Cairo, Illinois, and thus, the Mason-Dixon line. An old life was behind them, and the promise of “up North” darn near too good to be true.

I remember well the “Computer Lab” on the third floor at Roosevelt, and teachers had to “sign up” to take their classes there. It was intimidating. The silent “Apples” sat there stubbornly, just mocking teachers who hadn’t learned their ways. The “trained” teacher came over, flipped a switch, spoke some magic to the “greenie” — magic words that were quickly forgotten — and set the machine in motion.

The computer was the “magic bullet!” There was nothing now between our kids and knowledge! The world was at their fingertips! There would be no end to discovery, no end to knowledge, no end to learning! A promise had been made. It was as if McFadden and Whitehead had looked them in the eye and sung, “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now!”

Yes! That monstrosity promised to be our children’s savior. What drills no longer accomplished, it would do effortlessly. They’d punch the right keys and get it! Pronunciations, poems, formulas… There’d be no hiding! Formulas would spring up if and when formulas were needed. Teachers could go home to their families with their tongues in their mouths instead of hanging out like an exhausted dog’s.

So, what happened? Two roads diverged… and I tell this with a heavy sigh… They didn’t bother to explore. They took the easiest way, the one that offered most shade, the one with fewer rocks to make them wary, to cause them to watch their step. They took the one most traveled… the smooth one that posed no threats—at least, not so easily recognized… the one that rose so gently they didn’t know it was a bridge, and so never saw the troll…

What started as a promise has become a curse. That “highway” is now a place to trap young girls, bouncing along unwarily to human trafficking. The trolls beneath the bridge crouch in the wee hours and plan fights in shopping malls. They hide in the black night to bully insecure kids to suicide with viral evil.

The information highway is filled with cowards who hide in the dark of their own filthy rooms where parents can no longer check backpacks to safeguard their children. Cowards have long arms. It’s not so easy to keep their children out of their grasp.

So what can you do? The number one thing is to realize the highway is a dangerous place for your child. Be vigilant. Watch. Listen. Learn. Talk to your children, and limit their engagement. Sure, they’re gonna get mad and yell, “You treat me like a kid!”

Hold steady and smile… and keep that verb in present tense!

Story Posted:12/30/2016