Children under 12 Should not Be Introduced to the Internet - Essay Example

For this reason, researchers and scholars have not hesitated to state that the internet has become an integral part of the contemporary world. However, science and technology comes at a cost (Staples, 2008, p. 288). The internet causes more harm than benefit to children. Efforts to control activities and content of the internet to children have proved futile since the internet does not belong to any company or state. This paper delineates the dangers that internet poses to children both in social and academic activities.

It discovers the risks associated with unsupervised internet use by children. Conspicuous chat rooms, instant messaging and explicit contents are the intermediates that make smooth the progress of the fundamental issues and problems within this topic. In addition, this paper discusses the role of the parents in ensuring their children’s safety in the internet. Unsupervised access to the internet by children under the age of 12 exposes the child to a world of detrimental dangers that are both physically and psychologically abusive (Livingstone, 2009, p. 23). Arguably, the content in the internet posses a higher danger and risk to children than movies, music and television.

Chat rooms and social media have become the areas of interest in exploring the risks exposed to children. In the recent past, cases of abduction, murders and physical and sexual abuses on children have been on the increase. National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (2005, p. 2) has linked the internet as the major cause of these evils. The report notes that 89 percent of sexual solicitations or approaches occur in the internet annually and that 29 percent of all the children who use the internet have been sexually victimized.

In addition, the report suggests that 31 percent of girl children have been sexually harassed in a chat room. Debatably, National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (2005, p.13) reported in a research, that more than 4 million children between the age of 7 and 17 who use the internet have a higher probability of giving out their home address and their email addresses. It has been reported that 29 percent of all the children under the age of 12 who use the internet would give out their home address if asked while 14 percent would give out their email address if requested (National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, 2005, p. 14). This has been the primary contributor of child abductions and murders.

Reports indicate that children have opted to turn to the internet where their social life cannot be known by their parents. The internet permits private and real time conversations. This has made children succeed in safeguarding and protecting their social life from scrutiny by the parents and adults (Staples, 2008, p. 288). However, this has had more harm than benefit. Children spend a lot f time in the internet and are disconnected from the societal happenings that have for long equipped adolescents into adult hood (Strasburger & Wilson, 2002, p. 134). Though researches have portrayed the internet as a revolutionary method of supplementing people’s social lives and civic connections, it has replaced head to head connections with friends and family members.

For this reason, the internet has left the youths with no social skills. Staples (2008, p. 289) notes that they