Effects of Internet Use on Adolescents Development

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Think about your Internet usage. How much time out of your daily life do you spend online? Does your use of the Internet take a toll on your diet, exercise and sleep? Think about today’s young people. They cannot remember a time when they did not have computers and cell phones. While technology and the Internet are useful tools to get information fast, the increasing use of the Internet by adolescents is taking a toll on their physical and emotional development. This increase in use of the Internet is causing several health issues in adolescents; these include problems with nutrition, exercise, and unhealthy sleep patterns, all of which can lead to a multitude of adolescent developmental concerns.
[Diet/Nutrition]
Adolescence is a time in one's life when many radical developmental changes are taking place. These biological changes include rapid growth in height, weight, and sexual maturation. In order to encourage these natural processes to take place appropriately, it is crucial that adolescents get the proper amount of nutrients from their diet, adequate physical exercise, and a sufficient amount of sleep. Today's ever increasing use of technology, especially the Internet, by teenagers has the ability to affect these developmental processes. Several scientific studies have shown that Internet usage has negatively impacted adolescents' diet, exercise and nutrition. A 2010 study examined the changes on the diets and lifestyle of Korean junior high students as a result of different levels of addiction to the Internet. The goal of the study was to analyze the connections between the students risk levels of Internet addiction and how those levels corresponded to their sleep, substance abuse, and dietary patterns. The results of t...

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...nternet Addiction on the Lifestyle and Dietary Behavior of Korean Adolescents." Nutrition Research and Practice 4.1 (2010): 51-57. PubMed. Web. 17 Sept. 2013.
Subrahmanyam, Kaveri, and David Šmahel. "Internet Use and Well-Being: Physical and
Psychological Effects." Digital Youth: The Role of Media in Development. New York: Springer, 2011. 123-42. Springer Link. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Zhang, Wei. "The Influence of Sports about Internet Addiction on Teenagers' Health in
Different Dimensions." Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. Vol. 135. Heidelberg: Springer, 2012. 739-44. Springer Link. Web. 22 Nov. 2013
"Teens and Sleep." Sleep for Teenagers. National Sleep Foundation, n.d.
Web. 23 Nov. 2013.
Colrain, Ian M., and Fiona C. Baker. "Changes in Sleep as a Function of Adolescent Development." Neuropsychology Review 21.1 (2011): 5-21. Springer Link. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
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