Children and the Internet

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Recommended: The risks and consequences of children using technology

First of all, the Internet, one of the greatest inventions in the history, joined almost all types of telecommunication invented previously such as telephone, radio and television into one, and created new forms of communication such as online text messages, video chatting and social networking. The opportunity of adding and receiving the information on the Internet is one of the aspects stimulating people go online. The simplicity of using the Internet is attracting more and more people in all over the world and the popularity of the Internet is growing even among the youngest aged group of people. To this extent the variety of the information online and vast amount of opportunities provided by websites attract especially children due to their curiosity to know and learn more about the world. However, as in the case with almost all technology, along with benefits come the negative impact of the Internet on children’s development overall.

This paper is mainly about identifying and evaluating the positive and negative impact of the Internet on children. Thus, there will be discussed that on the one hand the Internet may have a positive influence on children’s education, reading skills and communication, on the other hand the negative impact may be seen in children’s social skills, mental and physical health. It is important to point out that the Internet has both positive and negative influence on children’s communication in terms of starting the conversation online without hesitating versus being afraid of speaking to unknown people due to the violence on the web.

It can be clearly seen in the Chart 1 below that there was a significant increase in the number of the types of media from print to tablet computers. With the increa...

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...ty 13(1): 176-185. Ebscohost http://search.ebscohost.com (accessed February 14, 2011)

Livingstone, S. 2009. Children and the Internet. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Livingstone, S. and L. Haddon. 2009. Kids online: Opportunities and risks for children. Bristol: Polity Press.

LSE Research: Opportunities and Risks for Children Online. 2010. Streaming video. YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G9kRsc4MfE&feature=related (accessed February 14, 2011)

Safer internet day 2011. 2011. Streaming video. Euronews. http://www.euronews.net/2011/02/14/safer-internet-day-2011/ (accessed February 14, 2011)

Smith, P.K., J. Mahdavi, M. Carvalho, S. Fisher, S. Russell, and N. Tippett. 2007. Cyberbullying: Its nature and impact in secondary school pupils. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 49 (4): 376–385. Ebscohost http://search.ebscohost.com (accessed February 14, 2011)

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