Teenagers' Internet Use

“Those concerns about predators and stranger danger have been overblown. There’s been some confusion about what kids are actually doing online. Mostly, they’re socializing with their friends, people they’ve met at school or camp or sport,” (Ms. Ito). What Ms. Ito means is that parents are overreacting to how much time their children spend on the internet. Parents have always been afraid of predators and your child being sexual harassed. Parents think too much internet time is not educational for their children but studies have shown that it is okay.

“It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” (Ito). Today, parents are becoming more and more cautious about what sites their children are at on the internet. Some parents take it to a drastic measure by putting blocks on certain sites such as MySpace or Facebook. Teenagers just want to be able to send messages privately to their friends without feeling like their being watched. Many people have do studies on the excise use of the internet in teenagers’ daily life. According to Mizuko Ito, “Their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to mange a public identity, how to create a home page.” Also, the MacArthur Foundation has been doing studies on teenagers’ internet use and say, “Good news for worried parents: All those hours their teenagers spend socializing on the Internet are not a bad thing.”

“New media allow for a degree of freedom and autonomy for youth that is less apparent in a classroom setting. Youth respect one another’s authority online, and they are often more motivated to learn from peers than from adults,” the study said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/us/20internet.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all