Many students complain that their internet restrictions are too extreme. Are they actually just trying to research on a project, are they really using the internet like how it’s intended? Or is this just a way for them to play online games?

When projects are assigned to students, some may require research to do, however the internet filters can be too hard on them. As students pointed out in an article by, nytimes.com, “They complained how ‘absurd,’ ‘ridiculous,’ ‘stupid,’ ‘suffocating’ and ‘creepy’ they thought their school filters were.” This problem has been a part of school filters for years, it may block actual, unbiased, educational news websites for important events or topics. In the same article Nat explained, “It’s censorship, plain and simple, when you can’t access more than a handful of news sites and some purely educational, not opinion-based sites.” On some projects, it forces kids to choose different subjects, which can discourage them from focusing on doing it.

Even if these filters can be too harsh on students, it could be a good thing. According to a blog post by, goguardian.com, it explains how restrictions can prevent students from seeing graphic or inappropriate content, keeps students from being distracted by online games, cyberbullying, and predatory strangers or hackers.— This encourages schools to keep their filters enabled or to increase it. Many students in class stop paying attention because they’re too busy trying to complete something in a game or are just bored in class. Schools may create filters to enforce the rules.

Overall, internet restrictions can be a good thing or a bad thing, it really depends on what the student is doing. They can either use the internet for how it’s intended or slack off and play video games during class.