Essay on Dangers of the Internet for Children

What is the difference between children and adults who are more prone to the use of the internet? The curiosity in children is tremendously infinite, leading children to overuse the internet. For example, children are more exposed to whatever is on the internet because sometimes parents allow that usage, not realizing that the internet has a long list of dangers.  Some of those dangers include pornography, cyberbullying, and online predators. These are severe matters that some parents are not aware of when they freely let their child use the internet. Furthermore, a child's mind is fresh and new at their young age. They will learn anything and everything they see online.

Firstly, parents need to understand that their child's brain is not fully developed to where they know right from wrong. So just giving their child the free will of having the ability to use the internet is a complete danger for their child. As their child is active on the internet, there is a high possibility that they will see something highly inappropriate, which all depends on what they are viewing personally on their own time.  Either it can be a pop-up link from a youtube video, movie, or even a game. There will always be certain things that get in the way of a child's device that lead to curiosity.

Secondly, the internet is full of dangers such as pornography. Children at a young age expose themselves to explicit material in which some do not realize that what they see is not real but an act. These kids grow up believing dark thoughts towards the idea of sex, affecting them later on in life with having particular views. Cyberbullying is also getting very serious these days because cyberbullying has led to numerous suicides. Certain children like to abuse the internet and feel the need to hurt others. Lastly, the internet contains horrific predators that only seek children. Children can easily get tricked into believing they are making friends or even believe they have met someone they love through online dating. These children get easily manipulated by these evil people without realizing they put themselves in danger of being exposed to kidnapping or stolen information.

Thirdly, some people might say that the internet comes to be very useful for children, for educational reasons. Of course, most people, specifically in school, tend to look for help with homework or projects. Because the internet tends to answer millions of questions, finding a solution or explanation for something in a book will probably take a little longer than the internet because children can type their questions on the web. For example, they might need a solution for history class. The child has a textbook provided from the class, which has many chapters causing the kid to feel little motivation to look up the answer in the book while at the same time, there is also a computer that can give him the answer to the question instantly. 

Lastly, for further research, I can most likely interview parents and see what they say about how they feel about their child using the internet. I can also provide statistics of several cases of each danger I have listed above caused by these children provided with internet in school or their home. Of course, there has been much proof that things happen to children by having the internet in their hands.