THE EFFECTS OF INTERNET ON CHILDREN

The Effects of Internet on Children



The Effects of Internet on Children

Introduction

The world is rapidly changing. The advancement of technology is gaining ground faster and faster and this has a profound effect on our nation's children. An estimated 24 million children now have online access. Computers are a big part of the today's school system and pre-school institutions. Children between the ages of 3-5 years of age are becoming more and more familiar with computers. The Internet consists of millions of individual domestic, academic, business and government networks and services. (Anderiesz, Mike. 1998 p7).

This explains the diversity of our using it to many fields in the life. For example, a person need find some news about the world today, the only thing he has to do is sitting in front of the screen and updating anything he wants. The Internet completely satisfies our desires of knowledge with its great flexibily and location. Moreover, online chat is a good chance to get closer to people all around world, who come from different nationalities and walks of life.

On the other hand, the Internet causes some bad effects, even dangerous effects on children if parents don't control their use of the information from the web. Seeing and hearing about the violence and sex, some children are to become confused and frightened, the others are just interested in figuring out the meaning of what they saw, try to bring this content into their play where they can work out their ideas and feelings. It is very, very perilous and surely exerts negative side influence on children's thoughts and behaviours. (Anderiesz, Mike 1998 p9)

Body

The internet plays an increasingly important part in our society today. Young children may have experience of watching their parents ordering goods or services from the internet, banking online or sending e-mail. They may have seen older siblings use the internet for entertainment, such as playing games or downloading music. There are many benefits for young children learning via the internet. It can be a useful source of information, helping staff to research a topic in response to children's interests. It offers access to a vast range of resources, many of which can be downloaded free of charge. For example, staff can download samples of music from other cultures, pictures of castles or short videos of minibeasts to support and enhance children's learning. The internet offers a wide variety of games at various levels, to allow for differentiation. These can offer new ways to stimulate children's interest and to motivate them towards learning. However, there are also some potential problems, including unsuitable sites, aggressive advertising, pop up windows showing adult content and links to other sites. The internet contains vast amounts of information on virtually every subject imaginable. Just as a library has sections which appeal to different readers, not all the information on the internet may be suitable for young learners. Some of the content may be unreliable or ...