Dangers of Unlimited Access to the Internet

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Dangers of Unlimited Access

“Social media websites can enrich children’s lives, but they can also be hazardous to their mental and physical health” (Hellmich). (Social media sites) “can enhance kids’ creativity and help them develop technical skills. They can also can lead to cyberbullying, depression, and exposure to inappropriate content” (Hellmich). Even if the internet can help the children of our society, parents, teachers, and principals need to look at all of the risks and decide whether kids should have unlimited access to everything that is on the internet. Social media sites can be very risky. Parents and other adults need to create rules and regulations to govern and monitor the usage of the internet. With these restrictions, cyberbullying, depression, and the misuse of these sites can be prevented.

Teens that use the internet without supervision or rules are more likely to experience cyberbullying. Along with cyberbullying, teens can also go through depression from believing in everything they read on the internet. This also includes when teens see too much on the internet and believe that what they see is always reality. Allowing teens to use the internet for social media without any restrictions can cause them to misuse the sites and inflict emotional harm to themselves or others through cyberbullying.

Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and other social sites focused on photos, allow many teens to judge and bully other teens without their parents knowing. “Parents need to know that unrestricted media use can have serious consequences. It’s been linked with violence, cyberbullying, -- and a host of other problems” (Ocala Star-Banner). Facebook is a popular social media site to go to catch up with friends but it is k...

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... and if their child is on the internet often, they are likely to have experienced cyberbullying at some time. Without parents checking to see if their child is being cyberbullied, the kid may go into depression and possibly start thinking of suicide if never helped in time. Any parent or adult can help to stop cyberbullying by checking with their kids and viewing what they post on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites.

Works Cited

"Docs to Parents: Limit Kids' Texts, Tweets, Online." Ocala Star-Banner. 28 Oct. 2013: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.

Hennick, Calvin. "Pondering Facebook's School Role." Boston Globe. 27 Sep. 2012: REG.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.

Hellmich, Nanci. "Social Media Websites Can Be Useful for Kids, But..." USA TODAY. 28 Mar. 2011: B.8. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.

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