Essay on Internet Safety

Any person under the age of eighteen is still in the crucial developmental stage, a beautiful stage that a simple electronic device is robbing them of. With new innovative technology hitting the market constantly, toys are thrown out the window to make room for their new device. With this came questions from parents, wondering if allowing them to be unsheltered on their time and activity on the web. A child should be limited in the amount of time spent on the internet because they lack basic internet protection skills, socialization skills, and time for exploring other mediums of entertainment.

A normal child does not have proper extensive knowledge of internet safety. Most adults are ignoring the ‘stranger danger' rule, they were taught as a kid, which translates into this generation of kids' ignorance. Children spend any time they can attach to their device and it is an accepted fact at this point. What they do in their time online. Sites that are heavily populated with children have put in some effort in their system to block any content not suitable for kids and censor comments before they are posted, but this does not mean a primitive system will catch-all the content before kids are exposed to it. A fragile child's innocence is easy to be taken advantage of. Thus, the expression ‘taking candy from a baby' is so popular. A child can easily send out information about their whereabouts, their full name, and general private personal information that should not be on the internet. A parent can put an abundance of restrictions, but there is always a way to become exposed to the dangers of the internet.

There is not a bona fide way of communication nowadays. Kids find no need to explore socialization and communication skills when they have the safety wall of the internet. On the internet, people can present themselves in any way they please, because they don't have that humane aspect of face to face interaction. Kids will find a deeper comfort in confident strangers in YouTube videos, than their fellow peers and parents. The youth are gluing themselves to their device, to the point where they have thrown out mundane activities such as play dates and local trips with friends for more time on their device. They are losing any humane aspect to them, for more measly time spent online. Kids are making friends so easily on the internet, they do not feel a need to make friends or learn how to behave in face to face interactions. Anyone can put on a suave exterior online, but it does not accurately reflect their true self of being a faux pas.

Most children are spending all their time on the internet, that doesn’t allow any time for exercise. Children even with a fast metabolism, they will start to experience a lack of strength and youth obesity. The youth is becoming increasing lazier, the act of being in a stationary position for hours on end will only be harming the body. There is the inarguable fact that people need to remain active to continue living a healthy life. In most schools, there is a required physical education class, where kids uninterestedly participate and underperform from the level they are supposed to be.

Parents should not only be restricting their child’s time on the computer, but also restricting their allowed activity on it, because of the dangers. Parents allow for their child to be exposed to a profusion of amounts of dangers associated with being online. Kids are going rapidly ostracizing themselves from the world, lacking basic socialization skills. A child’s most valuable developmental time should not be spent indoors online, rather being active with friends. Children are going to grow to be their best self if they are limited on the addictive web and more focused on bettering the reality.