It is impossible to use the internet without, eventually, seeing something pornographic and/of disgusting. There are plenty of trolls who like to post it in random forums just as a prank. Right now there is a debate going on at xxxchurch on the subject of why classical art is never thought of as porn, and some very graphic classics are being discussed. Even with a filter, no filter can be perfect. So, if your definition of ‘safe’ is safe from seeing porn, then that is a standard that can never be met.

What education can do is prepare someone to expect to find porn from time to time, and accept it as just a fact of life on the internet. The correct response is to simply ignore it.

Much the same goes for this ‘cyberbullying.’ There’s an old cliche bit of advise about real-world bullies that says they will stop if ignored. In the real world, it doesn’t work: Ignore a bully and they will eventually give up, but not before trying harder to draw a response. Online, it works perfectly. The worst they can do is send insults and be annoying, and anyone who can’t take some insults has no business being on the internet. Debates in political forums often end with someone being called a nazi.

The mistake of simply filtering is to demand a sanitized, child-safe internet. That cannot be done. It goes against the very nature of the internet. You can’t give them a childrens’ internet, so just prepare them to deal with the adult one instead – with it’s trolls, spam, viruses and randomly appearing porn.