Negative Ramifications on Children Exposed to ITC Programs - Research Paper Example

Negative Ramifications on Children Exposed to ITC Programs The Internet is playing a very important role in our lives today. Social networking is a relatively new facet of the Internet world which has taken the world by storm. Interactive Information Technology Communication (ITC) Programs like Facebook, Msn etc are gaining popularity amongst all age-groups especially the youth, who are influenced by the attractiveness of these programs. In this paper, we discuss the negative aspects of these programs. A special focus will be on the exposure of such programs on children and how they are affecting them. Furthermore, we will consider solutions to resolve this problem. Introduction The international network, more commonly known as the internet, has become a vital constituent of our daily life. While many use Internet for work purposes which have made life very easy, in recent times Internet has become a source of entertainment and most importantly social networking. It is surprising to see that many people start their day by checking their Facebook, or tweeting on Twitter. A big percentage of children have become and are continuously becoming a part of this bandwagon. Effects of Internet on Children Everything has positive and negative advantages both. The same philosophy applies to the internet as well. While Internet offers a huge number of advantages which everyone is making use of in all aspects of life, its usage exposes people to lot of risks as well. In such a situation, the best way always is to deal sensibly, trying to minimize the risks and make most of the advantages. This applies to adults but children who are excessively using Internet nowadays for various purposes like computer games, getting information, watching videos etc are exposed to many risks posed by the Internet, especially for the young and naïve youth. Children’s positive experiences with the Internet include retrieving a large amount of information which can be useful for coursework and otherwise, playing games and watching videos, and keeping in touch with people and making potential new pen pals through emailing and chat rooms. Negative experiences include, virus or computer crash, exposure to violence and pornography and harassment (Valkenburg & Soeters, 2001). Here, we see that while children are using Internet for information and entertainment purposes, they might come across non-desirable stuff which can be controlled or explained to them about. However, when it comes to chat rooms and online friends, the risks are hidden and much more dangerous. To further explore this aspect, our research question is as follows: Why is the exposure of ITC (Interactive Information Technology Communication) Programs like facebook, Msn etc harmful for children? Following is the detail discussion of the same. Effects of ITC Programs on Children A new facet of the Internet is socialization for the new generation (Pogue, 2008). Social networking websites have become a recent fad and children especially are extremely fascinated by it. It’s a great way to keep in touch with all your friends (old and new), and other networking purposes, however, there are many ways in which they can have a negative effect on the social well being and safety of a person. In the old days, socializing meant face to face contact or phone calls with your friends. This restricted one to a set of close friends. Later, the sms-ing phenomenon came. Ease of text messaging allowed one to keep in touch with more people. Social networking on the Internet beat them all. All your old friends from school, college, camp, and various acquaintances are present on one place and you can keep in touch with all of them. The thought does seem amazing; what’s better than to have an online community of people you wanted to be in touch with but never got the time or resources to? The Internet made it much simpler. Many people argue that replacing a real life community with an online community is making our social skills and relationships suffer. This is an entirely different debate altogether. However, the ease of finding and making friends is posing another threat to people especially children. On these websites and chatting softwares, exchange of information has become very easy. Your Facebook page may include all sorts of information ranging from your date of birth to email address, phone number etc. While security settings help you hide this information from strangers or people you don’t know, many children make accounts without being knowledgeable enough about the security settings and concerns. In that way, their information becomes public content, available to all. This makes them vulnerable to predators and exposes them to various other dangers like identity fraud and harassment. Another feature of such websites is posting pictures. When the right security settings are set, sharing pictures for your family and close friends makes sense. However, many young children post their pictures without security settings and make them available to the whole world. Teenage girls post their pictures which can be quite provocative at times. While some do it in naivety, some young girls like getting the attention of men in this way considering it as a harmless activity and do not understand how they are at risk from bullies and paedophiles (Revoir, 2008). For some children, even if the security settings are set high and they are using these websites and chatting with their friends on MSN and other chat softwares, the idea of making new friends through these websites is quite appealing. Many youngsters claim that the need to make friends is much more important than being conscious about unnecessary safety concerns (Revoir, 2008). In such a way, they are revealing their information, pictures and other stuff to their new Internet friends who might be just another predator trying to fool the person because false identity, fake profiles and what not can be done through these websites and chat rooms. So we see how these sites are harming more than helping. Youngsters especially are fascinated by it and the idea of security is the last thing on their mind. Role of Parents Parents try to keep checks on children as much as they can. Some parents keep the supervision minimal and give their children the freedom to use Internet, while others are extremely strict about its usage. However, the biggest problem comes because parents are not aware of the technology themselves. There is a huge difference between what the children are doing and what parents think the children are doing. They think that their children are completely supervised but that’s not the case. As for the children, they feel that they are engaged in a harmless activity and their parents are going to un-necessarily get worried so they keep them in the dark. Some children purposely keep them in the dark as they are completely swayed by the charm of online networking. Others are kept in check and they think they are doing the right thing but sometimes temptation gets the better of them. In all cases, the role of parents becomes extremely important and needs to be changed because in their minds they are playing their part right, but they are not because they are un-aware of the fact that their children are potentially at risk. Discussion Hence, we see that while Internet along with its various benefits was posing a risk for children, ITC programs has enhanced that risk to a great extent. In answering our research question that why are these programs so harmful, we see that the nature of such programs, the open-ness of the Internet, the naivety of young people and the ignorance or unawareness of parents/adults all play a big role in making these programs harmful for children. Children with their raw minds are more susceptible to the bad effects of these programs and can be lured very easily by people with the wrong intentions (Riaz & Naseer, 2009). On the other hand, parents think they are doing their best but they require a fundamental understanding of the potential hazards being posed by such programs (Bremer, 2005). Based on the research, I suggest few recommendations which can help solve the problem or at least make people aware of how they should protect themselves from such issues arising from these programs: On a basic level, parents should limit the usage of Internet for children. Older children have information requirements for course-work but younger children do not. So parents must keep check on educational requirements and let children use as per the need only. For video games etc very limited time should be given or they should try switching games on TV rather than computer so Internet is not used. Workshops should be organized for parents by schools or other concerned authorities where parents are explained all the potential problems arising from the usage of these programs so that they become more vigilant and keep a strict check on their children’s online activities. Workshops should also be organized for children explaining them the same. Parents should also sit with their children and explain them these risks. This is especially for older children who cannot be restricted from using Internet all the time. Parental control softwares should be made available easily and at a low cost. These softwares can help parents monitor their children’s online activities. Government should also step up here and enforce laws about the kind of content being displayed on the Internet. If government works closely with these websites and programs, the problem can be controlled. For example, facebook should keep tabs on the kinds of pictures being posted on their website and such profiles should be removed. Moreover, if the websites don’t follow instructions, they should be banned altogether no matter how popular they are. New technologies keep coming up and control softwares, opening websites that are blocked etc are also available. Law enforcement should be enhanced and websites and programs which are blocked should not be allowed to use and should be heavily fined so that the act doesn’t happen again. All these recommendations can help us to face the challenges posed by the growth in technology every day. The solution doesn’t lie in blocking it because the more un-reachable a thing becomes, the more its temptation increases. Moreover, it offers a huge array of benefits as well. So, Internet should be used and ITC programs should be used, but one should stay aware and try their best to protect themselves and their children from the threats as well. References Bremer, J. (2005, July), The Internet and children: advantages and disadvantages, Child Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic N Am, 14(3):405-28, viii. Buckingham, D. & Willett, R. (2006), Digital Generations: children, young people and new media, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. Dr. Riaz, S. & Naseer, M. (2009), Role of State: Protecting Children in Cyberspace, Journal of Political Studies, Volume XV, Pages 60-80. Pouge, D. (2008, February 28), How Dangerous Is the Internet for Children?, The New York Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/technology/personaltech/28pogue-email.html?em&ex=1204347600&en=d7f13165204e1958&ei=5087%0A Revoir, P. (2008, April). Millions of girls using Facebook, Bebo and Myspace 'at risk' from paedophiles and bullies [Internet], Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-553348/Millions-girls-using-Facebook-Bebo-Myspace-risk-paedophiles-bullies.html Valkenburg, P.M. & Soeters, K.E. (2001, October), Children’s Positive and Negative Experiences with the Internet, Communication Research, Vol. 28, No.5, 652-675. Read More