Why Teenagers Should Have Internet Safety

The article, “What Adolescents Miss When We Let Them Grow up in Cyberspace,” written by Brent Staples discusses negative influences that internet has toward teens. The author elaborates that teens are far more comfortable with online conversations. Social Media has high expectations to how a teen should act or look. Media emotionally scars teens, demanding them to have clear skin and skinny body. The more people that are connected to their phones, higher the chance of losing relationships. The internet has left many teens with unreal social skills. Real life experiences such as law, teens are not knowledgeable. Teenagers miss out on life experiences that can help them grow into adulthood.

Many would agree that technology has advanced remarkably, in the past decade and has impacted the the as we know it in so many good ways. However, it has come with some downfalls as well. One of these downfalls is, the impact technology has on teenagers especially when it comes to social media and instant messaging. With that being said, there is this epidemic that the younger generations face with the internet. This includes, being harassed over the internet or cyberbullying. Unfortunately, bullying has always been an issue especially among young adolescents. However, now we have the same issue yet the bullies are able to hide behind a computer screen and this has been affecting teenagers in a negative way just as traditional bullying has. According to Merriam-Webster cyberbullying can be defined as “the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person (such as a student) often done anonymously”. Cyberbullying usually results in embarrassment and can sometimes lead to an even worse feeling if continued. According to the indicators of school crime and safety report done in 2013; 6% of students in middle school were cyberbullies and 16% of high schoolers reported that in the past year they have been harassed over the internet. Even though those numbers are smaller than students who get bullied in person, cyberbullying still has negative effects on the victim. The purpose of this paper is to reach out to kids who

Social media has been a topic of debate for years. Some people are strongly against any use of it while others like the instant connection it provides. A major concern over social media is the lasting effects it has on teenagers. Social media can affect teenagers through many ways including things like their self-esteem. Cyberbullying is a raging topic of discussion centered around teens social media use. It can also effect their people skills and create a lack of community involvement. Some parents think that watching what their children do on social media is an invasion of privacy but is your concern for their privacy greater than your concern for their safety? Social media poses a great danger to today’s children. It can affect many aspects of their lives.

Utilizing social media has been shown to enhance communication, social interaction, and sharpen technical skills of teenagers. Benefits to teens of social media allow them to socialize with friends, make new friend, and even help each other on group projects or homework. Studies indicate that over 20% of teenagers log onto social media sites over 10 times in one day. A con in social media is that its has caused cyberbullying and online hate. Studies have shown that online harassment is no more common than offline harassment. Another con in social media is that sexting has increased 20% in teens. These teens have indicated that they have posted nude or semi nude photos of themselves. Teens do not realize the risk

32% of online teens say they have been targets of a range of annoying or potentially menacing online activities. 15% of teens say someone has forwarded or posted a private message they’ve written, 13% say someone has spread a rumor about them online, 13% say someone has sent them a threatening or aggressive message, and 6% say someone has posted embarrassing pictures of them online. 66% of teens who have witnessed online cruelty have also witnessed others joining; 21% say they have also joined in the harassment (Statistics).

I have had this personal experience myself seeing how teens today can act towards other people. Whether it's towards a teacher, friend, or family member, teens have the ability to know what is right or wrong to say. Yes, some teens have problems whether it is in school or at home, but they can always still achieve something in life. Even if a teen has temper or is stressed out, or even going through something, they can fight through these things and do what is better for them to be successful in life. Although this may be true, it still could be the complete

Everyday technology is changing the way we live and everyday we must keep up with the changes so we’re never left behind. Law isn’t much different, it requires being up to date in order to stay current and unfortunately technology is one of the trickiest laws to maintain. With the growth of technology came the Internet, which subsequently became a common tool for anonymous users to say what they please to anyone with no cost, cyber bullying. There are laws in place but children and teenagers are still being exposed to what’s out in the World Wide Web. Subjecting children to freedom on the Internet without a safeguard from a young age is presenting them with countless dangers to their psychological health. The Internet is such a huge and forbidding place and unfortunately not much is put into place in order to protect us against online predators.

That’s because over 60% of 13-17 years old have at least one profile on social networking site (“American academy of child and adolescent psychiatry”). Most of the teenagers spend more than two hours per day on social networking sites. For example, twitter that for people to be talking about what going on in your life or what going on in the world. Most people who use twitter uses it to talk about other people and exposed them (nude pictures) just so they can hurt that person. That can cause someone to have suicide thoughts that leads to my next example kids that 15-18 of age are dying from bullying. “(According to American society for the positive care of children) children cannot get a quality education if they don’t first feel safe at school. Once a child is bullied, they know they are not safe. My friend died from being bullied. That’s because he did not tell anybody about what was going on. If he would have done that we could have done something about

Although others may say that the use of media leaves teens in their rooms for hours and in the end makes antisocial, it is proven to create a chance for a new friendship. Many people also may say that teens could post something that they will later regret, or that they will encounter a cyber bully or perhaps be hunted by an online predator. Teens are more likely to show how responsible they are with their use of social

Based on these facts, it can be said that people feel more confident and safe to meet new people over the world wide web ,but in fact this is a common misconception. With all the “security” that comes with social media apps and communicating with strangers, many problems like cyberbullying and minor trafficking may come into play with teens who engage. Adults

Teens aren't afraid to say anything with the use of technology because there isn't a physical threat. Teens feel that they can hide behind their phone, it’s a security blanket. Teens spend an abundant amount of time on their cell phones, some may get bored and result to bullying others for entertainment. Some teens may use social media to voice their opinions, some may be opposed to their beliefs and cause tension and arguments. Subtweeting is a way of talking badly about someone without using their name, this form of bullying can also cause disputes on social media and can lead to feelings getting hurt. Teens spend so much time on their phones and may get bored, as a result they may end up bulling others to pass the time.

Although many times, teens aren’t mentally sophisticated to handle the situations on the internet. This dilemma leads to teen bullying; narcissistic teenagers believe they are invincible over the internet and can say anything they want. If this kind of behavior goes unpunished or unnoticed these young adults turn into grown-ups that think attacking people’s appearance and beliefs are acceptable. It starts in chat rooms, Twitter, Facebook, and more often than not it is a woman under attack. “University of Maryland set up a bunch of fake online accounts and then dispatched them into chat rooms. Researchers found that accounts with feminine usernames incurred an average of 100 sexually explicit or threatening messages a day. Masculine names received about 3.7” (Hess, 2014). When women receive these messages they are often given mixed signals on what should be done. Many police officers will tell them to not believe the threats or to just delete their social media site. However, for many women who have been harassed it is not that easy; for many jobs the internet and using social media sites is necessary and participation in them is simply unavoidable. Law enforcement agencies have several different ways of dealing with harassment

Cyber predators are always lurking through the internet to find our children to abduct and sexually abuse or in some cases even murder them. It is vital that all parents understand that children can be indirectly victimized through conversation, through instant messages like Yahoo, MySpace, and Facebook, as well as the transfer of sexually explicit information and material. Computer-sex offenders will even entice a

Technology has had so many advances in the past decade. People are constantly using the internet for numerous things. Every person uses the internet and technology at least once in their lifetime. Since technology is constantly growing and advancing people find themselves using it more and more for everyday life. Now, adults are usually the ones using the internet, but young kids have found themselves using it more frequently as well. Whether it be a child who is using a phone for games, or a teenager who is using a phone for social media, the internet is always being used. Young kids also find themselves using the internet for several things including social media or texting. With young people using social media there can be a positive side, a negative side, and even changes in ones mind. Young people feed into social media and with this comes cyberbullying, insecurities, distraction, and no privacy.

Becoming a teenger is a life changing experience. Between the teenage years from 13-18 years old, teens have seen problems on social media. Cyberbullying been such a huge impact that never seems to stop. Cyberbullies continues harassing victims which have caused severe risks for them. These risks include suicide, depression, loneliness, etc. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out if the cyberbullies are real or not, some can be anonymous. Social media and technology is what all teenagers use 24/7, some are not careful with what they put online. Due to social media, Cyberbullying has increased causing victims at risks.