The internet is a huge "market" with pretty much everything available in it. It is an enormous network of pcs worldwide connected by cables and satellites. Most of the time, it is merely referred to as "THE WEB" or the World Wide Web (www). The internet today is used for multiple duties such as getting email, conversing with people from all around the world, receive wording, images, training video and sound. It is an extremely helpful tool so you can get any information needed. This is because it has folks from all around the globe placing information onto the internet for the utilization of everybody who access the internet which really is a public accessible feather for large numbers of people nationwide. (Young Multimedia Australia 2008, What's the internet?)
However, the internet nowadays is too greatly utilized by tweens and is now a concern among our contemporary society. This is induced by different facets that may be dangerous to them. This study is to research whether it's recommended for tweens to be allowed internet access.
We may question who exactly are tweens? To be exact, they are really people who are no more children anymore yet not really a teenager. This implies they would fall in the age band of between 11 & 13 yrs. old. Folks are doubtful about giving them internet access because they may well not be mature enough to distinguish what's good or bad and this may cause these to be susceptible to internet hazard. Internet danger is normally caused by individuals who are not trained with moral ethics and make an effort to inflict damage onto tweens.
Advantages of the internet for tweens
Offers a broad spectrum of information
The internet is a virtual treasure chest full of valuable information. They have a huge amount of publications added day-to-day and is gradually evolving as one of the greatest way to obtain information. Any form of information from A to Z can nowadays be so easily obtained simply by a few clicks using the pc and a great deal of information show on the display. Also, with the help of "search engines" on the internet, the work of trying to find information or data is minimized. Since the internet provides so a lot of information, it is a great source of guide for students who does research work or even just to look for information which can't be obtained in university. Throughout the internet, discussion boards can be reached and through community forums, people are able to trade information and talk about opinions with each other. (The Advantages & Drawbacks Of THE WEB n. d. )
Communication with the world
There are lots of of chat rooms that can be used on the internet such as MESSENGER, Yahoo Messenger, Skype and so forth. These boards allow worldwide communication to be possible. So long as computers are connected to the internet, anybody from any area of the world can communicate online. It is very convenient for members of the family who are aside to talk to each other instantaneously without the need of using email or snail mail. (ADVANTAGES & Negatives Of The Internet n. d. )
Saves times in completing tasks
Before internet been around, there were many tasks that took lots of time to complete. Now by using internet in the present day society, the time used to complete these responsibilities is reduced by an uncanny amount. One example would be students using the internet to talk to educators online. Students who are slacking in studies may have extra classes with educators through communication programs. This greatly reduces students' time had a need to revise on their own and yet not fully understand the subject. Also, tasks done can be sent to instructors via the computer by using email.
Educational video games & programs
Games nowadays intrigue tweens and play a major role in their lives. Computer games are constantly being played by tweens from all over the world and the internet has a huge load of the game titles. Specifically, educational game titles are the game titles which may have positive influence on tweens. These games provides practice in problem resolving and logic and provide practice in use of fine motor and spatial skills. Furthermore, some of the educational game titles require two players or even more so this allows parents to once in a while play together with the child and also have some family bonding. These game titles being fun activities help to ease stress and help to keep your brain fresh. (RAMIFICATIONS OF Video Game Playing On Children 2009)
Risks & negatives tweens might face
However good the internet might seem to be and also have many advantages upon tweens, the ugly aspect of internet also needs to be analyzed carefully to actually determine whether the internet is more harmful than helpful to tweens.
Access to unacceptable content or information
The internet being the treasure breasts to all or any information, it also contains negative contents such as pornography and violence. Tweens who unintentionally access to pornography may see images that could scar them for life and may possibly cause problems in their future life as these images may surface without warning. It will always be internet pornography that is the first exposure to tweens of the sexual images and the images they see triggers their brain to learn mind tricks in it. This causes individuals intimacy to be planted into them as something twisted and perverted and this "implantation" is irreversible. Inevitably, this might lead to sexual deviancy and offense, which influences their future associations and relationships. (Children as Victims n. d. )
Violence can also make an enormous effect on tweens. Tweens who are exposed to violence would generally be more hot-tempered and are very more likely to have antisocial patterns such as threatening aggression and assault. This is because they can be brainwashed in to the world of assault and cannot distinguish between dream and reality. They may think that violence is the only path to settle problems which being violent shows charisma and looks macho-like. (Children And Multimedia Violence 2009)
Chance to encounter internet predators
An internet predator is usually an adult who exploits susceptible children or tweens for sexual or abusive purposes, or also known as paedophiles. These people try to do these from the norm things to gratify their personal fetish. They might try to use the internet as a way of getting in contact with tweens and try to coax them to meet up. At this time, these tweens who are not under adult guidance may well not be adult enough to feel that this is potential danger and would merely agree to ending up in this private person. This might allow tweens to be susceptible to these internet predators to handle their filthy activities. In some reported cases, these paedophiles have raped and killed innocent children. (What exactly are the risks involved with my child using the internet n. d. )
Become victims of cyber bullying
Cyber bullying is quite common nowadays in the digital world. What exactly does indeed cyber bullying mean? It essentially is any form of harassment occurring via the internet. Posting fake videos on web sites, giving mean and wicked emails towards someone are types of cyber bullying. Tweens who are cyber bullied would feel very frustrated and overwhelmed as they don't know who these people are who cyber bully them. These helpless victims would usually undergo quietly and be psychologically imbalanced because they usually don't tell an adult about this concern and simply keep it to themselves. (What's Cyberbullying? n. d. )
Be subjected to invasion of level of privacy, unsolicited advertising & financial risks
There are a lot of commercial websites on the internet which may invade privacy by requesting for private information. Tweens may be encouraged to complete questionnaires and enter tournaments that lead to the divulgence of private information or incur unforeseen costs. Also, some sites have advertisements that encourage tweens to acquire products which can be costly and unnecessary to them. (What exactly are the risks associated with my child utilising the web n. d. )
Addiction to the internet
It is very easy for tweens to get addicted to the internet since it is so interactive. With all the current contents available on the internet, tweens would opt to sit in front of a computer all day long which would cause them not to have time to complete projects or work and decrease the time for socializing with people personally. This usually also triggers tweens to be less healthy as they would lack the exercise necessary for their body. (What are the risks involved with my child utilising the web n. d. )
Conclusion
To go through the whole argument within an unbiased way, a comparison has to be made between your advantages and disadvantages of the internet. It may appear that it's not advisable for tweens to be allowed access to the internet because of all the negative effects it may cause. However, from a survey carried out, majority of the people concur that tweens should get internet access which advantages outweigh the negatives of the internet. These negative effects are avoidable and it quite simply comes down to the way tweens make an online search and exactly how much they understand about the internet. These problems may be prevented if they are guided along the way by a grown-up because an adult is able to differentiate what's good and what's not on the internet and train tweens how to prevent these websites on the internet. Most of the tweens who suffer from internet down sides are those who are ignorant and are not taught well how to utilize internet as a robust tool.
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