Lost in Cyberspace

Because so many people are using the internet daily, the door for social media abuse is wide open. When children are using social media sites, they should be supervised closely by their parents. Though parents are generally vigilant about supervising and protecting their children on the internet, 41% of children ages 13-17 are not effectively supervised because their parents THINK they know what websites their child is visiting, they actually don't. 62% of internet users say their parents have no knowledge of the websites they access daily. Lack of supervision could lead to exposure of different kinds of content, content that they are not used to. Though teens may argue that they want more freedom on the internet because they use it for good things, the internet has mostly negative effects on its users such as; harassing someone online or vice versa, lack of sleep, and becoming totally isolated from loved ones.
When children under the age of 18 are continuously using social media daily, they may start to get bored and they seek another method of excitement to try to "spice" things up. This could eventually lead to cyberbullying, the use of technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person. Cyberbullying is becoming more prevalent as teenagers spend more time on the internet without supervision. 46% of middle school and high school students have been targeted online. "...most cyberbullying is done for the amusement of the bullies and because they think they won't get caught" (Ochavillo 1). This basically says that the bully is harassing others because of pure boredom and carelessness. They don't think that they can get caught, or even be punished because it's on the internet and not a physical thing....

... middle of paper ...

...ersonal-interactions-at-what-cost>
Hafner, Katie. “Texting May Be Taking a Toll.” The New York Times. NYTimes.com, 25 May 2009. Web. 10 December 2013.
Harding, Anne. “Sleep Deprivation Linked to Depression in Teens.” CNN Health. CNN.com, 9 June 2010. Web. 10 December 2013.

Tardanico, Susan. “Is Social Media Sabotaging Real Communication?” Forbes.com. Forbes.com, 30 April 2012. Web. 14 December 2013.
Ochavillo, Vanessa. “Dealing with Cyberbullying.” Pacific Daily News 6 July 2009: A16. ProQuest. Web. 4 December 2013.
Watling, Meranda. “Cyberbullying Has Real Consequences.” Journal & Courier 05 May 2008: A1. ProQuest. Web. 5 December 2013.