Psychology
Implications of Internet to Children
Introduction
The advent of technological evolution particularly in the wide popularity of the Internet led to the various changes in the way people communicate access information. Children in particular are exposed to these technologies, but at the cost of their development. The shirt discussion will highlight the implication of Internet towards children in terms of their relationship to other people. In addition, the discussion will also determine the dangers that children are exposed to in using the Internet, and what the parents and churches can do to ensure their security.
Implication to Social Behavior
The Internet affect the way children establish relationship with other people in terms of the way they communicate, socialize, and perceive subjects that are often inclusive to the adult realm. According to the study by Johnson (2010), long-term exposure to the Internet enable children to encounter contents that are deemed inappropriate for their age or has a direct implication towards their psychological development. For example, several video contents in popular social media websites demonstrates violence from which a child’s constant exposure may affect their relationship with other people considering the probabilities of aggression in their behavior (Boston Children’s Hospital, 2015). Other forms of relationship effect observed among developing children transitioning to adolescent stage is their early awareness to the subject of sexual intimacy from which their relationship with other people tend to be sexually subjective (Geeseeny-Sawmy, 2011).
This can be observed on the way children communicate both within their age range and towards adults. In the study by Johnson (2010), it appears that the Internet affect the way children communicate specifically pointing out the expressive nature of children’s responses towards adults, which the children adopted from exposure to explicit contents over the Internet. Further observations based on the conducted research on child development, constant exposure to Internet particularly in the Social media makes children vulnerable to predation. Predators can be defined as someone with insidious intent towards the child or to the extent the whole family. Some predators encountered by children over the Internet sometimes results to solicitation of sexual acts or the child is being used as conduits of crime activities targeting the child’s own family.
These areas of concern should involve a close guidance of the parents and if moral disposition is in jeopardy, the church for instance can play the part in reestablishing morals on children. For the parents, putting a limit to the duration of Internet use can help in preventing their child from being over exposed to inappropriate content. Security measures can be also established where the parents could implement monitoring measures when their children are using the Internet. In terms of the role of the church in child development issues, ministerial programs for the youth and children can be established and encourage children to participate in activities that will deviate their attention from the Internet.
Conclusion
The Internet has had a monumental effect in the way people do interact and go about their daily lives, its effect also extends to child development most specially with children today being more exposed to Internet contents. Materials in the Internet are accessible regardless of age this implies the children being exposed to inappropriate content that could affect their relationship with other people. The parents and the church to some extent can alleviate the harmful effects of the Internet to children by being more involved in their online activities.
References
Boston Children's Hospital,. (2015). The Internet and the brain. Boston, MA: Center on Media and Child Health. Retrieved from http://cmch.tv/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Issue-Brief-The-Internet-and-the-Brain.pdf
Geeseeny Sawmy, K. (2011). The impact of Internet use on children/adolescents. Presentation, www.govmu.org.
Johnson, G. (2010). Internet use and child development: Validation of the ecological TechnoSubsystem.Educational Technology & Society, 13(1), 176–185. Retrieved from http://www.ifets.info/journals/13_1/17.pdf
Johnson, G. (2010). Internet use and child development: The Techno-Microsystem. Australian Journal Of Educational & Developmental Psychology, 10, 32 - 43. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ885705.pdf
