The internet allows people use to share information globally. People who use the internet can access information, news and communicate with other people around the world. Almost 90% of teenagers have smartphones. They use the internet on their school research paper for homework solutions. They can find articles and journals to improve their academic work. Also, teenager uses the internet to communicate with friends. However, the use of the internet has detrimental effects on the teenagers’ emotional, psychological, and intellectual well-being, particularly if it is used without guidance and some level of moderation.
Today the internet provides an indispensable part of people’s daily life. Except for businesspersons who use it for work, teenagers are the second largest users of the use of the internet. Studies show that teenagers spent more than half of their day time on the internet. Most of the internet use is tied to school work and the website they need for research papers(Kuss et al., 2013). In the same time, the internet enables them communicate with friends or teachers through social platforms. There are also many teenagers enjoy the time when they set thefront of computers with video games. But there is unlimited information either good or wrong spreading all over the internet. The Internet is one of most influential factors that will affect teenager’s health, social behavior and education which results in them in challenging life experience.
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Using the internet affects teens’ physical health. The devices that they use to access information necessitate them to remain immobile for long hours. Since more than half of their time is spent on the intent, the teenagers engage in very minimal physical activities. This results in obesity(Kuss et al., 2013). Also, the many hours spent in front of the screen affects their eye-sight, and a significant number of them cannot read without glasses.
The Internet also has various psychological implications among the teens. The need to use the internet to research school provides an opportunity for such socialization to take place. This also provides an opportunity for internet bullies to target oblivious teenagers, and this has detrimental effects on their emotional health. It is noteworthy that teenagers are partly dependent on their guardians for emotional guidance and decision making and they are susceptible to misleading information(Kuss et al., 2013). Through the internet, a significant number of them are taken through addictive games and tricks that may lead to depression. Report from the Bullying, Cyberbullying and Suicide Statistics Center in the United States indicate about one in every three teenagers has experienced some form of cyber bullying. Also, every year, more than 4,000 teenagers commit suicide. Half of these cases are a result of cyber bullying(Kuss et al., 2013).
There are also various forms of entertainment that teenagers access through the internet that affects their social and emotional well-being. There are some websites offering adult-rated content, and some of the teenagers are tempted to visit them frequently. Unfortunately, some of them might turn out to be pornography addicts. This might affect their social interactions, particularly with members of the opposite sex due to the unshared ad perceived sexual attraction and intention(Kuss et al., 2013). Also, addicted teenagers tend to spend most of their time on these sites, and this robs them of quality time that they could have spent looking for valuable information.
However, there is a school of thought which believes that the benefits that the teenagers derive from using the internet are more than the negative implications. The positive aspects of the internet such as providing a platform for socialization and conducting quality academic research molds them through holistic development. While this is true, it is notable that their validity does not seal the dangerous loops that exist in the use of the internet by the teenagers.
Conclusively, using the internet has various negative implications on teenage physical and emotional well-being. Spending extended hours n the internet makes the users physically inactive, and most of them suffer from overweight and obesity. They are also vulnerable to bullying, depression, and sometimes suicide. Therefore, there is a need t have a moderated and controlled use of the internet for teenagers.
Work Cited
Kuss, D. J., Van Rooij, A. J., Shorter, G. W., Griffiths, M. D., & van de Mheen, D. (2013). Internet addiction in adolescents: Prevalence and risk factors. Computers in Human Behavior , 29 (5), 1987-1996.
