Figueroa 1

Maria Figueroa
Prof. Vana Derohanessian
English 113B
February 18, 2015

Internet is not beneficial for children

Individuals utilize the internet not only to find wealth information about their needs, but also
as an entertainment for children. Parents allow their children to have unlimited access to the
internet without encountering that is not productive for them to spend many hours on it. Even
though the internet can provide important information, it is very dangerous at the same time and
there are occasions when the internet ends up affecting children in several ways. In the article
Computers and young children: social benefit or social problem Belkis Suazo-Garcia states
that only 20% of the children were using the internet as a source for educational materials and
the other children were using the internet for everything, but education. Although, the internet
provides kids the benefit to succeed academically, the internet is not safe for kids because it
exposes them to pornography and puts them on risk to be contacted by sexual predators. In
addition, it affects their social development and makes them antisocial.
Many people believe that the internet is a benefit for children because it provides them
important resources that are essential for their education and brings them entertainment, but I
believe that Internet is not a secure place for children to spend several hours on. All children turn
on the computer without being aware that they can be surprised by Pornography. The internet

Figueroa 2
mostly provides free access to the majority of websites and some of them might include
pornography. Children who spend most of their time on the internet are more exposed to see
porno popping out of nowhere in the screen. For example, is being found that approximately
75% of children have been caught by their parents seeing pornography (Parik1). This is not
safe for kids to be exploring on with an unlimited amount of time. There are millions of perverts
who upload inappropriate photos and videos that can affect kids (Parikh 1). In addition, more
than 266 new pornography sites are created every day (La Rue 2). The internet gives free
access to pornography to all viewers regardless of their age. Also, it can be really traumatic for
little kids to see horrible things in the internet because their mind is not open enough to be part of
those porno incidents. Internet is not safe and mostly if children are left alone. For instance, I
remember one day seeing my niece working on her project and she was looking for some
information about her topic and when I saw big and dark letters popped up in the screen. I
wonder what it was so I went to see and my surprise was that it to explore porno, click here. I
panicked and asked her to leave the computer alone and we decided to block some websites, so
she would not have access to it. It is important to regulate the websites privacy. The internet
management should try to not allow pornography because in todays society kids are the ones
who utilize internet the most. Also, parents need to get involve in the situation and should check
their kids frequently while they are online.
Kids who are in the internet have the risk to be targeted by sexual predators. For example,
kids at the age of 11 years and above are already part of a social media website, Facebook for
instance (Parikh1). Sometimes children open accounts on Facebook, twitter, or any social media
and lie about their age and the internet easily gives them access, even though they are still
minors. There they meet people and add them to their friend list without knowing peoples

Figueroa 3
intensions, but there are times that not all people are good individuals. Attewell mentions that
there are occasions when a message from a stranger appears in their room chat and they tend to
be sexual predators. In addition, the article The Dangers for Teens Online Are Exaggerated
Rahul Parikh argues that almost 10 percent of teens are sexually solicited online every day. This
is a horrible situation because we are not safe anymore. Moreover, Parikh mentions an incident
of a teen girl who starts a conversation with a boy she meets on the Internet, but when they agree
to meet face to face, she discovers he is an adult man approaching middle age who wants to
kidnap her (1). It is very scary to see how teens are exposed to this situation because of the
unsecure internet. It is terrifying to see messages from weird people because I had experienced it
before. I remember one day when I logged on Facebook and found two messages and both of
them did not have a profile picture of themselves. I got curious just to see what the message was
about, so I opened it. As soon as I read it I got scared because one of them was inviting me to go
out and get a drink. I got scared and immediately blocked that individual. The internet is
definitely a concern and it cannot be trust.
Kids who spend most of their time in the internet do not socialize with people in person
anymore, because online activities tend to capture their entire time. They tend to be more
interested on chatting with their friends on-line than going out with friends (Libresco2). Also,
when it comes to family time, they refuse to participate in family activities because they find
more entertainment in the internet. Kids enjoy being more in the internet than doing some other
activities. For example, about 4 kids out of 6 would prefer to stay indoors warming out the
chairs than going out (Leahn1). Also, Lean states that children who have access to the internet,
most of them have a social media account where they have hundreds of friends (2). This
situations makes children to be online most of their time because they like to post stuff and

Figueroa 4
follow what their friends post as well. This situation affect children in the way that they stay
isolated from what is occurring on the outside of their house. Internet gets all their attention that
they do not interact constantly with other people instead learn things online (Libresco2). They
do not feel interested on knowing what else is out there to explore and learn from, they just want
to be exploring the internet that would not be productive for them at all.
Overall, the internet is not really beneficial for kids because it can be dangerous at times.
There they can see inappropriate information that eventually would affect them. To sum it up,
children should not be allowed to have unlimited access to the internet to avoid sexual predators
to reach them. Also, Parents need to be notified of what their kids are doing and should
constantly check what the kids are doing on the internet. Also, there should be implication on
where the internet should only be used for productive activities and should not permit individuals
to upload inappropriate stuff and make the internet safer.

Figueroa 5
Work cited
Attewell, Paul, Juan Battle, and Belkis Suazo-Garcia. "Computers and young children: social
benefit or social problem? *." Social Forces 82.1 (2003): 277+. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.
La Rue, Jan. "Online Pornography Is Harmful." Online Pornography. Ed. Emma Carlson Berne.
Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "The Road to
Perversion Is Paved with Pornography." Concerned Women for America, 2006. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 14 Feb. 2015
Libresco, Leah. "Can Google search for friendship? The internet's easy answers are a recipe for
loneliness." The American Conservative 13.3 (2014): 10. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.
Parikh, Rahul. "The Dangers for Teens Online Are Exaggerated." Policing the Internet. Ed.
Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from "Our Overblown
Paranoia About the Internet and Teens." Salon. 2011. Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
Web. 13 Feb. 2015.