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Importance of family communication
Why communication with parents is so important
Importance of family communication
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“Parents play an important role in the psychosocial development and well-being of their children” (van den Eijnden). Undeniably, the quote makes a bold declaration that all parents in today’s technologically advanced society should understand and follow. With 90% of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 15 using the internet (Sorbring), it is important for an adult to monitor their daily usage and behavior. “Only 39 percent of parents report using parental controls for blocking, filtering, or monitoring their teenager’s online activities” (Dell’anotnia). Parents should monitor their teenagers’ daily internet use and behavior by engaging in meaningful conversations and dialogue that allow for fostering a healthy relationship. Parents have many …show more content…
According to Jaana Juvonene, between 50 percent and 70 percent of the teenagers between 12 and 17 years of age have experienced bullying and threats on the Internet. According to another study, only 10% of those who have suffered bullying informed an adult about the experiences (Juvonene). The percentage of those teenagers who actually told an adult is a very scary number in a world filled with violence and hate. Parents who monitor their teenagers’ internet usage have a much better chance of being aware of these occurrences and have the opportunity to advise and assist the teenagers in decisions on how to handle the situation both physically and …show more content…
These individuals feel that it is an invasion of the teenagers’ right to privacy and the development of their trustworthiness. Kay Mathieson states “only by giving children privacy will they come to see their thoughts as something that belongs to them – to which they have an exclusive right.” In the United States and according to the law, monitoring the internet usage of a minor does not break any laws and is a moral obligation of the parent. Trustworthiness is an important development of a child to learn in order to develop genuine relationships with others in the lifetime. “Not only does monitoring have the great potential to undermine the trust of the child in the parent, and thus to undermine trust in others more generally, it also has the potential to undermine the capacity of the child to be worth of trust” (Mathieson). If the parent has not already had conversations with the teenager about monitoring internet usage and the parent is not telling the child about the monitoring, there is already an issue with the development of trustworthiness in the teenager. There was already a failure of development of this skill before the internet or internet monitoring was introduced. Emma Sorbring stated it best when she said that a teenager would be willing to disclose their experiences with their parents if they have always had good experiences talking things over with them and
The expansion of the Internet infrastructure across the world, has brought an increased audience. Which has provided expanded markets for businesses and exploited new opportunities. There are virtually countless social sites and media used by individuals to access and share experiences , content, insights, and perspectives. Parents today tend to believe they should spy on their kids online activity. I argue parents should respect the privacy of a child's social life and his/her internet activity.
Internet is advancing every day, parents have no idea what their kids are doing in cyberspace and are contemplating the idea of spyware. In the article, “The Undercover Parent” by Harlan Coben, he argues the idea of parents putting spyware on kids’ computer is a good idea to keep the child safe. Many American parents have no idea what happens in cyberspace; sex, bullying, and drugs. Parents are torn between protecting their child with spyware and allowing the child to have privacy. Coben uses his friends’ personal experiences to support his argument without leaving room for counterarguments. By using strong emotional appeals, weak qualifiers, and sugary word choice Coben creates a weak argument that lacks persuasion.
Some will say that if tennagers know that they are being watched they will be more cautious. Teenagers will find other ways of communicating to their friends like text messages or cell phones and those options are better because they do not offer the anonymity and danger of the internet. Also some will say that teenagers can block the content that they are watching from their parents. If parents talked to their children about why they are installing spyware and the dangers of the internet it can prevent all of this. Installing spyware in your children’s computer is not meant to be an invasion of privacy it is just meant to help monitor what our children are
¨The Undercover Parent¨ by Harlan Coben, published in an online newspaper ¨New York Times¨ (16 March 2008), claims that the Internet is dangerous for kids. Harlan Coben explains how spyware could be a resource that keeps track of our kids’ internet use, but how it could also invade sons’ and daughters’ privacy. He also claims that parents should have conversations about their concerns with teens, and let them know spyware is a possibility. In my opinion, I quite agree and do not agree with the most of it.
In conclusion, it is important that parents give their freedom to make sure kids learn to be independent and now days most teens spend a lot of their time in the internet so by parents not letting them have their privacy there, they are taking over all their lives without even giving them a chance to “explored their identity and the world” like Boyd mention. Parents, need to realize that by over protecting their kids is like sending them to war without weapons because they will not know how to confront the world and worst of all they will not know they things they are capable of doing by themselves.
If they do not help their teenagers with safety tips on the Internet there could be many negative consequences. According to The Editorial Board, “Parents remain the first line of defense against cyberbullying. Too many, however, ignore their children 's online behavior, deny that their kids could be bullies, or are themselves models for this harmful behavior. The stepmother of the 14-year-old charged with bullying Rebecca was charged last week with child abuse over allegations that she punched two boys visiting her home”. This illustrates the importance of parents’ role in a teenager’s activity on the Internet. In this occasion Rebecca’s 14-yeaar-old cyberbully had actually been bullied by her stepmother. This could have been the cause of Rebecca’s bullying since her cyberbully perhaps was bullied by her own
The title of the essay is The Undercover Parents, which was written by Harlan Coben. The essay was published on the 16th of March, 2008. In the essay, Coben presents his main ideas and thoughts regarding the use of spyware by parents to monitor children. He says that installing a spyware on the computer used by children, especially those in the teenage years, can help parents track what actually their children view on computers. In the essay, the author says that while it is quite hard to follow up on children while they are away from home and this causes parents to be so worried, installing spyware on the computers in the house really helps. Coben says that the program allows parents to keep track of the children including the friends they have, websites they visit and messages they send. However, he reiterates by saying that this implies negligence on the part of the parent. He says, "Surrendering parental responsibility to a machine that allows the entire world access to your home borders on negligence." (para. 5, p.21).
Track back to 15 to 25 years ago. An unfortunate student would normally get bullied at school with physical acts of violence, but as soon as that student arrives at his home he or she is presumed safe. Cyber bullying does not allow this luxury. Cyber bullying occurs over the information waves of the internet, with sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google plus. Which is why the guidelines must be improved or that children should not be allowed to access such sites entirely. With a the tools of direct messaging and posting videos cyber bullying can follow children to their home, beyond the school playground, seven days a week 24 hours a day. These acts of emotional trauma occur on a child’s computer and smartphone. For this reason it is more difficult to monitor...
Since Teen suicide is the second leading cause of teenage death in the United States, there is a need for legislation that promotes awareness and education about Cyber-Bullying. Due to the growth of technology in the American society, the younger generations of adolescents are adapting to the excessive use of computers, cell phones, and social-networking sites. According to a study done by Amanda Lenhart, 87% of adolescents who are between the ages of 12 and 17 are using the internet on a daily basis (Trolley, Shields, and Hanel, “Demystifying and Deescalating Cyber Bullying in the Schools”).With these numbers increasing across the nation, the numbers of adolescents being harassed through technology means is growing as well. The relationship between cyber bullying and teenage suicide has been named “cyber bullycide”. Studies show that 1/3 of teenagers who have used the internet have stated that they have received threatening or offensive messages either through text, e-mail, IM, and other technology related programs. In 2007 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officially labeled “electronic aggression” being cyber bullying as an “emerging public health problem” (Billitteri 387).
This sort of phenomenon makes major headlines regularly in recent times and effects a clear majority of today’s youth. State and local lawmakers have taken steps to prevent this type of bullying by making illegal under several criminal law codes. Michele Hamm, a researcher in pediatrics explained, “There were consistent associations between exposure to cyberbullying and increased likelihood of depression.” Cyberbullying became widespread among students with the rapid growth in use of cellular devices and the Internet. With this kind of technology bullies have the ability to send harmful messages to their recipients at any given time. This type of bullying is the hardest to control because it involves students but often happens off school grounds. However, because the evidence is material, students and parents could bring this evidence to the school and local police departments if a situation were to happen. Parents should be mindful of their child’s use of the internet and electronic messaging, cyberbullying usually takes place in a medium in which adults are seldom present (Mason, 2008). Also, instead of sending direct messages to other students, bullies use platforms such as social media and anonymous blogs to post harmful things for others to see. Educators must understand the significance of social media use to their students, especially
Bullying is a worldwide problem and it requires immediate attention because it psychologically affects both the victims and the bullies. Victims may ultimately have suicidal thoughts and bullies will have uncontrolled behaviors that carry on through school and after school, but they can be helped. Although cyber bullying is a big obstacle due to the large-scale usage of internet and the ability to conceal identities, technological advancements and child supervision help to single out these individuals to reduce the amount of bullying that occurs.
Adults are easily accessible to the goods and bads on social media, compared to children that are less capable to realize what is convenient for them. As a result, children have become victims of cyberbullying via social media. One of the major problem of cyberbullying had to do with the fact that “[t]he Internet provides more than ample opportunities for children to bully one another anonymously. Kids can embark on impressive and terrifying bullying campaigns, drawing in dozens of other completely anonymous children. Even a child who never does anything risky online is at risk of being bullied”, (Woda,2015, p.32). Children are expose to more cyberbullying in social media than in their normal everyday lives. According to Woda Tim, (2015) “a 2013 Pew Research Center study, indicates that 20.8 percent of kids ages eight to ten report that they have been cyberbullied at least once in their life, while 88 percent of social media-using teens say they have witnessed someone being mean or cruel on a social media site”, (32). Parents should focus more when their kids are using phones or computers in the house and it should use in public areas of the house, where parents can be aware of what their kids are doing in social media. They must use a “Parental intelligence” with their children and know that kids are the more vulnerable to be involved in cyberbullying. It is painful to see how everyday in the news kids are committing
Mickie Wong-Lo and Lyndal M. Bullock, in their encouraging attempt to intervene in incidents of cyberbullying, have recommended many ways to deal with it. In their article entitled “Digital Aggression: Cyberworld Meets School Bullies”, they asserted that children do not acquaint their parents with their activities on the Internet and as a result parents do not know how to address similar situations (67). According to Kowalski, parents ought to follow “reporting techniques, which includes knowing when to ignore, block, or react, being mindful of the language being used and respond appropriately;” (qtd. in Wong-Lo and Bullock 68). In other words, the authors rightly emphasize that systematic supervision and knowledge can be valuable measures because parents will monitor children’s use of Internet and will be able to provide appropriate guidelines just in case a danger arises (Wong-Lo and Bullock 68). Moreover, as Keith and Martin argue, “[…] incorporating popular youth technology would be to teach youth how to use a social networking site to promote themselves in a positive manner that would appeal ...
Internet has become a new equipment to improve violence and disobedience. Teenagers can have easy access to the pornography sites or adult’s chartrooms. As a matter of fact recent researches has shown that Despite the potential negative effects on children using the Internet, more than 30% of surveyed parents had not discussed the downside of Internet use with their children (Internet Advisory Board, 2001), and 62% of parents of teenagers did not realize that their children had visited inappropriate Web sites (Yankelovich Partner...
Stutzky suggests that cyber bullying is the use of modern communication technologies to embarrass, humiliate, threaten, or intimidate an individual in the attempt to gain power and control over them. Bullying has been around since the beginning of time. These days however, bullying isn’t just happening on the playground, it’s happening on the internet and mobile phones, making it possible to bully a child 24 hours a day. Cyber bullying follows children around the clock and into the safety of their own bedrooms. A recent survey by MindOh!, an educational company that follows youth trends, reported that nearly 80% of the 5,500 teens that were surveyed said that they had been exposed to cyber bullying. Cyber bullying affects the mental health of so many young adolescents around the world, and the issue is steadily increasing as more and more ways to bully are created.In extreme incidents, cyber bullying has led teenagers to suicide. Most victims, however, suffer shame, embarrassment, anger, depression and withdrawal. While technology continues to evolve, new means of communication enable today’s bullies to become more effective in terrorizing and tormenting their victims. The aim was to increase awareness and decrease the prevalence of cyber bullying- Year 9 at Meridan State College being the stakeholders (people involved).