Adverse impact of internet on teenagers

The uses of the internet for modern society are many and range from communication, military uses besides being used to track and report in health care activities among other issues. However, there are many dangers prevalent on the internet for all users although teenagers are the group that is most vulnerable to these dangers. Internet should be used with a lot of care to ensure that its benefits are not superseded by the potential harm that may threaten teenagers and ultimately future generations. Teenagers are more impressionable than adults and are at a development stage where they develop values and conceptions about various issues this makes them very vulnerable to dangers that exist on the internet. Stress, depression, and mental health issues among teenagers are closely associated with the unsupervised use of internet resources that may lead to them accessing harmful material such as pornography and disturbing violence. Teenagers who face problems on the internet are often reluctant to share these problems with adults who are responsible to care for them resulting in a downward spiral of depression, and mental ill-health. This paper examines more closely the reality of the dangers to which teenagers are vulnerable that arise from their interaction with the internet.

Teenagers who use the internet excessively tend to do so at the expense of other important aspects of life such as developing social skills, exercising, and developing talents in other fields. The many promises heralded by the internet call for responsibility to ensure that the current teenagers and future parents will survive the technological transitions that are taking the world by surprise. Education opportunities enhanced by the internet such as precocity and cognitive development may be offset by dangers especially if teenagers use the internet outside a well-designed framework that considers their abilities and stage of development. Information overload is also a constant danger that may overwhelm teenagers and unchecked could lead to frustration and discouragement that may cause young people to give up on their interests and passions. Online games and social media have dangers that must be monitored to ensure teenagers are safe from harm such as addiction, depression, and the adoption of dangerous habits such as stealing.

Technology has long been praised to be the highlight of modern existence, internet is almost synonymous with technology as it has a plethora of uses ranging from communication activities, healthcare, entertainment to military applications. The internet is one of the unique defining features of this era because it has revolutionized how people communicate, how they travel, how they learn and a deeper examination may reveal most activities carried nowadays are associated with the internet either directly or indirectly. The internet is saturated with exciting opportunities which make life more interesting for most people especially teenagers. If a teenager were to time-travel from the past century to the present, they would be in a state of perpetual amazement, marveling from one curiosity to another, at things people no longer notice. Although the internet has many benefits for teenagers, it is also permeated with serious dangers that may or may not be necessitating the scrutiny of besides what the internet does for them, what it does to them.

The most significant issue with the internet is that teenagers have sudden access to all manner of information without the corresponding wisdom and experience necessary to navigate it safely. Most teenagers are overwhelmed by the internet and have no one to guide them on how to utilize it positively and this predicament often results in one too many bad choices. Parents, guardians, and caretakers also need to be educated on how to provide effective guidance to younger people as they are often also confused on how to address the issue without appearing dictatorial to teenagers (Ghosh et.al 2). Some of how the internet is harmful to teenagers are through compromising their development of moral values, distracting them from education, and disrupting or preventing the proper formation of lasting and wholesome relationships.

The significance of the internet in modern lives cannot be overstressed, people who communicate using the internet can save a lot of time and resources that would otherwise be expended. But just like a hammer, fire, or any other contrivance made by human ingenuity, the internet can be misused resulting in harm for self and others. Teenagers have difficulty prioritizing their activities and end up sacrificing other important aspects of their lives such as excelling academically, maintaining a healthy exercise routine to create more time for the more exciting activities they enjoy on the internet. There is also the problem of lack of sufficient oversight and supervision which makes the convenience with which the internet can be accessed have an unintended consequence, for example, early exposure to adult content. This combined with conflicting advice on ethical and moral standards available on the internet end up bringing more confusion to teenagers.

The teenage age is one permeated by transition and is a stage of human development where people begin to discover themselves and make decisions that often affect them for the rest of their lives. Teenagers are very vulnerable to ideas on the internet at this stage because they try to identify with what they perceive to be popular with their peers. The internet is also rife with dangerous people who exploit the vulnerability of unsuspecting and trusting teenagers with many ending up as victims of various tragedies that are perpetrated through the use of the internet. Teenagers may also be exploited by cybercriminals who may identify them as a weak link to further their criminal activities such as theft, fraud, and kidnapping.  Teenagers deserve protection from a myriad of dangers that lurk on the internet from their caretakers, teachers, and the government which should put more effective measures in place to protect them.

 

One of the adverse impacts of the internet on teenagers is that it is the leading cause of mental disorders in younger people as a result of exposure to a lot of information that is difficult for them to cope with. Most teenagers who end up accessing harmful websites often begin with the best of intentions but unfortunately, this may result in untold harm. For example, teenagers may access the internet to obtain material for studying but may end up clicking on inappropriate catchy adverts whenever they are not adequately protected by parental safeguards (Taher & Mohd 3). Some of the websites thus visited prompt teenagers to become sexually hyperactive without the right guidance which leads to confusion, low self-esteem and eventually makes them be disturbed mentally. These teenagers are also at heightened risk of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDs which makes their lives more miserable making them bear the consequences for the rest of their lives.

Most of the time, parents, guardians, or caretakers are often unavailable a condition that is compounded by being away for work, and when at home being preoccupied with their online lives at the neglecting quality time with younger people. Teenagers who face problems on the internet are reluctant to share them with adults and become more reclusive, feel depressed, and have low self-esteem (Mchugh et.al 1171). Internet addiction is thus prevalent in people of different age groups but more evident in teenagers. The average teenager also spends more time than older generations on the internet and is more conversant with it making it awkward for parents and guardians to offer them sound advice as they feel they don’t have enough knowledge to be credible (Yusuf et.al 401). They, therefore, feel helpless and end up doing almost nothing to protect their kids from these dangers.

Teenagers also lose various skills and abilities such as socializing, regularly exercising physically, resulting in a myriad of lifestyle-related illnesses such as obesity and heart disease. Young people often spend the majority of their waking time on the internet which can be conveniently accessed through various platforms such as desktop computers, laptops, and handheld devices. The activities available on the internet such as watching movies, playing games, social media activities all take a lot of time leaving too little for direct human contact. Preference of cyberspace to real space leads to minimized exercising which increases health risk and reduces the ability of the body to maintain immunity against various illnesses. Such illnesses that were traditionally believed to affect older people such as diabetes are becoming more common among teenagers.

 

The internet carries the promise of many wonderful advances from enabling the internet of things, artificial intelligence, and possibly a post-scarcity society. However, research is needed to ensure that the internet is used responsibly to ensure that there will be future generations left to enjoy these advances. Parents should make proactive efforts to be conversant with the internet to offer the needed guidance to their children. The government should also implement policies that will transform education to include courses that inform teenagers through guidance and counseling activities on how to be safe on the internet. Teachers, parents, and guardians should also ensure that they provide enough support, encouragement, and guidance to teenagers while leading them to exercise physically more often.

 

At the convenience of a few mouse clicks, or a few taps on a touch screen most people especially teenagers can obtain information quickly. The internet provides better opportunities for teenagers to develop their cognitive abilities, add on knowledge and obtain a variety of skills and abilities. Although the internet has all these benefits, it is also full of negative effects that may range from false news, cyberbullying, and information overload. Social media platforms are often the arenas where cyberbullying happens with little regard to how it impacts the victims of such abuse who often end up being depressed in extreme cases suicidal (Dyer 6). Thus, the dangers of the internet to teenagers may vary in severity with varying significance that may range from almost harmless to fatal consequences.

Information overload is also a problem for teenagers who when unsupervised may end up attempting to learn about things beyond their ability which impacts their motivation to learn negatively and cause them to give up entirely on learning. Internet usage may in this manner, result in poor performance instead of the expected improvement that is attributed to the supplementing role it has on the learning processes. Further research is needed to provide the way forward on how protective measures for teenagers on the internet can keep up with the rapid changes experienced within the internet (Zilka 322). If teenagers use the internet in a more supervised and moderated environment, many of the potential dangers that may threaten them may be significantly reduced or altogether avoided. For teenagers to reap the benefits of the internet, precautions should be taken to ensure that it is used positively and a balance is maintained between social, physical, and mental development.

The internet is saturated with online games which are accessible to most teenagers due to the improved internet bandwidth and advanced software. Although games are often attributed with a lot of exciting adventures, offer opportunities for teamwork educators and parents should know the dangers that these games may pose. Games are highly addictive and without proper parental guidance, these addictions almost always result in harm for the teenagers who play them. Most games also have upgrades that can be bought with real money and may introduce harmful financial habits to teenagers who may resort to stealing from their parents or other people to meet the cost of the game perks. Thus, internet games are a major avenue through which various forms of harm including manipulation can befall teenagers. Game addiction may also have other fatal consequences such as becoming suicidal because of the inability of distinguishing the game environment from reality. The best protection from internet games is for parents, teachers, and guardians to ensure that teenagers have adequate supervision when playing online games. Social media is very popular with teenagers. This is because these platforms provide a convenient way for people to connect around the world (Lareki et.al 396). The content that dominates social media changes continuously and tends towards hateful, violent, or sexual extremes.

The internet is a tool that has to be used with care to increase the benefit and minimize the hazards to meet the various purposes of the user. Online games and social media have perils that must be scrutinized to ensure teenagers are safe from harm such as addiction, depression, and the adoption of dangerous habits such as theft (Liu et.al 4).

While the internet has many benefits for adolescents, it is also saturated with serious threats that may or may not be demanding the scrutiny of besides what the internet does for them, what it does to them. Insufficient supervision of teenagers using the internet increases the risk of them becoming prey to various criminals who manipulate them and often harm them to meet their nefarious schemes (Wisniewski et.al 3920). Some of how the internet is harmful to teenagers are through retarding the development of moral values, disrupting education, and upsetting or preventing the proper formation of enduring and healthy relationships.

In conclusion, some of the dangers prevalent on the internet for teenagers include exposure to pornography, introduction to active sex life without the proper guidance which may lead to complications in social, emotional, and mental aspects of their lives. Parents and guardians often feel they are not equipped to adequately help teenagers who they feel are more knowledgeable about the internet than them in most cases. Teenagers who experience problems on the internet are reluctant to share their problems with their care providers and end up being overwhelmed by these problems and occasionally end up being harmed irreversibly. Teenagers also face the risks of poor physical health as a result of refraining from exercising often, these may result in issues such as obesity, and various easily preventable health complications such as heart disease and diabetes. Parents, teachers, and guardians should also be aware of dangers presented by internet games and social media and come up with contingencies to protect the youth by ensuring that these activities are carried out responsibly.

 

 

 

 

 

Works cited

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