How the Internet Plays a Role in Teenage Life

How the Internet Plays a Role in Teenage Life

Due to rapid advancements in the field of technology, the usage of internet by teenagers has grown exponentially over the past decade. In fact, internet has become a necessity in contemporary world. In a broader context, the use of internet plays a vital role in the development of adolescents. The cognitive, development of adolescents is seriously influenced by the use of internet (Amanda, Maddin & Hitlin, 2005). Across the globe, teenagers tend to spend time online. However, it is believed that boys tend to spend more time online as compared to their female counterparts. A number of studies have associated growing violent behavior among teenagers with an increased use of internet and violent games. While, girls tend to spend more time on the internet either chatting or shopping online.

Introduction

Adolescent age is considered as vital for the development of one's personality. However, the idea of studying adolescence as a major period of human development is quite new. Up to the mid Twentieth century, teenagers were regarded as children until they left their education, got married or started a job. By the 1920s, with the incorporation of schooling systems in the country; more and more teenagers were able to contribute to the economy and play their role in the development of the society (Keller, 1999). In many societies across the world, the period of adolescence is still not given importance and is regarded as a transitional phase to adulthood (Broude, 1995).

A vast majority of teenagers in the United States; approximately 87% between the ages of 12 to 17 use internet on a regular basis. According to the statistics of 2000, there were more than 21 million teenage users of Internet across the globe (Whitlock & Powers, 2006). By now, the statistics on teenage have been increased by many folds. In a broader perspective, not only has the share of teenagers increased in the cyberspace, but their usage has also intensified. Teenagers now use Internet more often and in a diversified number of ways.

Discussion

Internet plays a vital role in the determination of a teenager's personality. Prolonged usage of internet is believed to cause depression among adolescents and cause social isolation. Hence, usage of internet on a continuous basis causes Alogia i.e. reduction in speech and tends to alter the personality of teenagers. However, most of the studies on Internet usage were conducted in the earlier years of the Internet; when it was less common and hence the results obtained from those studies cannot be generalized. In a study conducted in 2004; boys and girls described their social experiences online as private and claimed that most communication took place in chatrooms and by emails (Gross, 2004). A good majority of the participants claimed that they have shared intimate details with their online friends. In the same study, it was also ascertained that teenagers often tend to assume a distinctive personality which is completely opposite to ...