Internet
use: risks and benefits
What does the Internet offer and how does it offer it to
make it so controversial and worrying for parents and teachers?
There are a number of inherent characteristics of the
Internet that are what cause these types of fears. Among them are the
following:
Ø Easy
access to information of all kinds, freely and for free.
Ø Easy
access to services of doubtful educational, ethical and / or moral quality.
Ø Anonymous
access to information and certain services, which increases that feeling of
freedom and complete autonomy.
Ø Long
connections at a very low cost.
Ø Easy
and fast transmission of information taking advantage of the communications
infrastructure provided by the Internet.
Ø Easy
exchange of information between users, often unknown.
Ø Easy
establishment of interpersonal relationships in which the true personality is
omitted or falsified, taking advantage of anonymity.
Ø As can
be deduced, the fundamental problem that access to the Internet entails for
minors is precisely that related to their condition as a minor and therefore
vulnerable and unprotected.
In normal conditions, an adolescent (and not so adolescent)
who asks himself questions, seeks answers, needs to 'know' in the broadest
sense of the term, needs to feel integrated and considered in his group and his
personal fulfillment necessarily involves his level of socialization, on the
Internet he finds a real paradise of opportunities.
If too that we add the 'detail' that, most of the time,
parents do not know that world, we are from their point of view, in the
perfect, ideal situation. I can do whatever I am interested in. I have my own
computer in my room for the purpose of finishing my projects. I can do
anything, my parents do not find out anything simply perfect!"
And this is where three fundamental factors related to the
child's maturity process come into play:
1. Education
in the most global sense.
2. The
school.
3. The
family.
The three factors are intertwined. Educational measures
cannot be articulated at school if they are not supported from the family and
vice versa. By working from all three fronts, the risks of the Internet can be
avoided or minimized. But not from the extreme prohibition, but from the
freedom offered by being able to choose, knowing the pros and cons. And that
ability is only provided by responsible education.
But not everything on the Internet are risks, there are
also advantages and many. And with proper control, the benefits outweigh the
risks significantly.
We cannot really say that the Internet is bad or harmful in
itself. It will always depend on the use made of it. That is, the why, what for
and how will determine the benefit or harm that we can obtain or cause.
Benefits
Among the many benefits for minors to make good use of the
Internet, we have the following:
Ø It
make the person social through different social services such as chats, games,
online activities etc. In this way the minor feels integrated into a group with
which he communicates and shares concerns and hobbies.
Ø It
facilitates their access to science, culture and leisure, thus promoting and
completing their education outside the scope of school.
Ø It
facilitates the completion of schoolwork and personal work, enhancing their
ability to search, analyze and make decisions individually.
Ø Facilitates
group homework by making collaborative tools available online.
Ø It
facilitates the learning process for students suffering from long-term
illnesses and who have to stay away from classrooms for long periods of time.
Ø It helps
in making children and parent or guardian communication faster and more
efficient.
Ø Improves
academic results, as shown by statistics on these topics.
Risks
Regarding the risks involved in using the Internet, we can
group them into:
Relating
to the type and access to information
The minor has available large volumes of information of all
kinds, without any type of classification or access control most of the time.
This can lead to any sort of information they are seeing online. Such is the
case of violent, xenophobic content, sects of all kinds, pornographic content,
or related to cyberbullying, etc.
Relating
to personal relationships
Internet brings people together and make their relationship
and bond strong But this in itself carries a risk since the user can falsify
reality and show himself to others in a different way than he really is, and
even falsify his identity.
On the other hand, the Internet can also promote isolation.
The minor with socialization problems can withdraw more into himself, since
having a tool that opens the doors to the world does not need direct
communication with others.
Finally, the Internet can also produce dangerous
addictions, such as network games, social networks, chats, participation in auctions,
games of chance, etc.
Relating
to the proper functioning of the Internet
There are many risks associated with internet. On the
Internet there are continually risk situations arising from the technology
used. Few virus can come in your computer and affect it easily.
Relating
to economic issues
Many young people are not aware that connecting to certain
web pages requires providing data that can constitute a significant expense.
Then there are purchases of a dark nature, deception, illegal businesses and a
long etcetera. There is a very wide range of options on the Internet that can
be deceptive and affect us financially.
On the other hand, many young people are also unaware of
the issue of illegal downloads without realizing that they are causing
significant harm to owners.
CONCLUSION
So parents should have control on their kid’s activities
that are udoing on internet and to so they need a software which gives them
full control and also saves their device from getting corrupted or getting
virus attack. Protegent
360 antivirus gives you full parental control and fights with viruses too
keeping your device safe.
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