Internet Influence On Teenagers

Teenage internet interaction is on the rise due to the ease in access of the resource and gadgets that aide in the activity. With usage of the internet, teenagers tend to pick up characters and values which they tend to imitate making them part of their daily behavior. With such interactions come the major issues of addiction and cyber bullying which are very strong influences in a teenager’s behavior. They become psychologically entrenched and have huge effects on the way teenagers think and behave hence the need to study the effects that come along with internet usage. Aside from teenagers, parents, teachers and the government have a very important role in making sure that internet usage has a positive influence on the teenagers through

This is clearly articulated in the behavioral problem theory put forward by (Bandura, 1977) where it states that behavior is a characteristic based on internal personal factors including cognitive, psychological and biological events and conditions of the external environment that influence each other bi-directionally. A study by (Kubey, 1996) goes on to suggest that over usage of the internet by teenagers is correlated to problems that include late evening use, social isolation and sleep disturbances and a decline in academic performance. His findings give heavy support the theory as the behavior of teenagers is greatly influenced by the personal traits that the content they consume online has a direct effect on. Another proponent of the theory (Brenner, 1997) concludes that time mismanagement effects among teenagers is generally associated with heavy Internet

There is a gap between the parents and teenagers on their understanding of internet usage perception. This shows that despite the fact that most parents believe that they are offering supervision to the teenagers while using the internet, majority of the teenagers tend to disagree with this fact begging the question are parents really offering supervision as they should or are they doing it as they think they should?.

The government has a very crucial role in regulation of internet through formulation of policies. A decade back it was perceived that the internet cannot and should not be regulated but with the fast pace in technological advancement the cyberspace has led the internet into the tender hands of teenagers thus the old policy of ignoring government responsibility does not hold firm. The government has a huge responsibility of formulating policies that protect different age groups if the quality of teenage behavior influenced by their consumption of online content is to be improved.

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