Zahavasdad, I sincerely hope that was a poor joke. I myself was bought up in an internet free home, and if I needed to do work or anything I was able to access it elsewhere in a controlled environment, such as when I did my research for exams in school, or when I did my shopping in the the community centre. Currently, I am computer literate, qualified and supremely able to deal with the outside world, and hold down a job. If you would like me to go into detail I would be glad to, but I can think of no way the internet would have made me any more worldly, learned or employable. It would have simply done what it has done to too many people I know, and damage them. It may not, but the risk enormous.
And flatbusher, to quote John McEnro, you cannot be serious. The internet is not a gift, it’s a test. It may be useful and often necessary evil, but a world without it would be an infinitely better one.
Remember, we are not talking about adults here, or even older teens. We are talking about children, as outlined in the thread title. And allowing them any kind of access is simply asking for trouble. And so, allow me to phrase the question thus. Should a child (define that how you wish) have regular internet access in the house? To which the answer is unequivocally a firm no.