I call it the “Lock the Liquor Cabinet” mentality: “Let’s block YouTube and FaceBook and MSN and Yahoo so that the kids won’t go places they ought not”.

Yeah, well, that doesn’t really seem to offer much of a deterrent…..in fact, it offers just enough challenge that Middle School students will spend an extraordinary amount of time finding ways to defeat the blocks. And they will find them. I guarantee it.

It reminds me of another work around. Remember way back when the first Satellite receivers for home use came out? The ones that were the size of an Olympic Trampoline, on edge? One family I know had one, and like all diligent parents of adolescents, set up Child Safety blocks and Secret Passwords. Well, young son was having a bunch of his teenage buddies over for a sleepover, but mom and dad went to bed and slept soundly knowing that they had blocked out all the Adult Channels, and passworded it with something the boy would never crack.

Well, they were right on one score– he didn’t figure out the Password. He didn’t need to. He just got a buddy to go out on the lawn with him and help him turn the Dish ever-so-slightly, so that the signal was re-aligned, and all blocks were bypassed.

And I doubt it took him long to figure that out. It’s like I always say– can’t figure out your cell phone? Give it to a 12-year old. He’s probably named Tyler.