From working with children and the internet for the past 15 years, I have learnt that it can be as harmful as we want it to be. If a child is alone with the internet, and no one else is around, the web can be a deadly, subversive, filthy and perverse place. The internet is our collective consciousness and human consciousness is not always pretty.
When children access the internet on large, publicly visible screens in safe and public surroundings, the net can be their most beneficial friend. Groups of children can learn almost anything by themselves, using the internet. I have evidence of this from all over the world.
There is a perception that the internet is "full of rubbish" and that children will learn incorrect things from it. I have seen no evidence of this. When children work in groups around a computer and research a subject or topic, they invariably find the right answers. This is because they interact with each other and quickly correct erroneous notions.
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The internet itself is self-correcting and there is, actually, very little "rubbish" on it that is not marked as rubbish by millions of users. Of course there are issues that have no clear answers at all – such as in religion or politics. Children should be sensitised to avoid these subjects. They will benefit by doing so.
Children who access the internet from such safe, self-organised learning environments gain immensely over ones who don't. They learn to read sooner and better, they gain in self-confidence and they retain what they have researched for much longer than that gained through traditional rote learning.
The internet enables children to talk to people anywhere in the world. If such interaction is in safe, public spaces with large screens and clear audio, the effects can be dramatic. Retired teachers, grandmothers, storytellers, clowns and magicians become available to children everywhere. Since 2009, a "granny cloud" that I helped build has been interacting with children in remote areas with great mutual advantage.