Internet Access restriction for juveniles

The Internet Revolution is one of the biggest technological advances man has experienced. It has made it possible for people to improve connectivity, partake in e-commerce and socialize online. In addition, the Internet has turned the planet into a tiny global village when the interaction is very easy and a click away. While it is important to understand the many benefits as well as the improvements that the Internet revolution has brought to man, it is very important to remember the other side of the revolution. The Internet is the root of all the horrors that can be spoken of in the present century. Talk of cybercrimes, theft, social evils as well as other evils, and internet will be the source of each of them. As a matter of fact, the internet has been a technological advancement that has fast taken root among the world’s population and as a result, a large number of the persons are using internet on a daily basis, for various reasons. While there are the many disadvantages, the point of concern is the juveniles, who happens to be part and parcel of the population and at the same time, a vulnerable group. Internet access ought to be restricted to the juveniles.Prolonged internet usage among the juveniles leads to time wastage. The period of their development happens to be a complex and critical stage in the sense that at this stage, personal development is being carried out, and additionally, studies are at their peak, and it is expected that they will do their best. At this time, constructive activities that will build up people of substance and value in the future is what should be actually happening and not the reverse. As a matter of fact, there is the dire need to restrict the internet usage among them, since it will in no doubt attract all their attention, consequently resulting to a scenario where they have less time for studies, personal development as well as other constructive activities. Also, poor academic performance results (Kim, Kim, Park, Kim, & Choi, 2017). Additionally, the restricted internet usage will result to persons who use time effectively and well, bearing in mind that time is scarce and limited, considering the many goals and objectives people have and have to accomplish.Internet access among the juveniles is detrimental because it results in addiction (Li, Zhang, Lu, Zhang, & Wang, 2014). This results in a case where they cannot do without using the internet. Most of the times, the internet usage is mostly carried out in the social media sites, where they will get to interact more with persons, from all over the world, which appears appealing to them. Addiction is a very bad situation since they will tend to neglect other prime and advantageous activities so that they can be on the internet. Addiction may extend to access of restricted sites, which does not suit their age. Such sites include the pornographic sites with a lot of explicit content. Pornography is a major source of addiction among the young people, which again has a lot of negative implications, which are not desirable for the small children. Pornography corrupts morals, and leads to degraded social life, school performance, as well as implicating on the social relationships. The internet happens to the source of all that, and therefore the need to restrict its access by the young children.Juvenile delinquency has been a major issue in the modern world that has contributed to undesirable behavioral changes among juveniles (Winfree, 2015). This is a situation where the young people have witnessed sudden and non-pleasing behavioral changes which are not pleasing. From the internet, the young children will gain access to video games as well as movies. The long exposure to the movies as well as the video games, makes the small children adopt some of the undesirable characteristics of the various characters that feature in the various games and videos that they do watch. For example, the various children might learn that the use of drugs such as marijuana is important for one to be stimulated, or perhaps gain extra energy. As seen, the various behaviors they borrow does not serve to benefit them in any way, but as a matter of fact, it is meant to destroy their personal development as well as the morals.The internet and more specifically the social media sites are sources of cybercrimes. Cybercrimes may include cyberbullying, where one is exposed to a situation where the general public turns against him or her through various means. Since the internet is the source of the evils, there is a strong need to restrict the juveniles from accessing the internet for a long time, since they are susceptible to such cases. Additionally, the cyberbullying has various effects which serve to demoralize or lower the self-esteem of the various children. Many are the times when the various victims commit suicide, after such an occurrence. The same is not desirable to the small children, which call for the restriction of its usage amongst them.Prolonged internet access among the small children may lead to the development of low self-esteem (Ahn, 2011). This can result from the use of social media, which apparently has many people who are on the site, and who portray themselves in various ways. Small children are fond of comparing themselves to see what they lack and others have, or how better they are to their peers. In a case where a child compares himself often, it might result in cases of low self-esteem, because to them, they appear less privileged than others. The comparison is not a recommended thing, because people may portray personalities that they are not. Prolonged internet access may have certain metal effects, which affects the cognitive and the psychological development of the small children (Ahn, 2011), and in most cases, resulting in depression. Thus, to prevent similar cases, it becomes crucial and important to restrict their usage.In conclusion, the above discussion justifies the need to restrict the small children from prolonged internet access. As seen above, prolonged internet access implicates on their time management, where they do not set their priorities right and follow them. Additionally, the internet access amongst the children might contribute to juvenile delinquency, where there is usually negative behavioral changes, such as drug and substance usage, negative anti-social behaviors, pornography, amongst others, which are not desirable. Additionally, the social media use among the juveniles may result in them having low self-esteem and affecting their mental development. Therefore, there is a strong need to restrict its usage among the children, because as seen above, the effects are very detrimental and implicate of the children, who are expected to be productive in the future. ReferencesAhn, J. (2011). The effect of social network sites on adolescents' social and academic development: Current theories and controversies. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62(8), 1435-1445. doi:10.1002/asi.21540Kim, S. Y., Kim, M., Park, B., Kim, J., & Choi, H. G. (2017). The associations between internet use time and school performance among Korean adolescents differ according to the purpose of internet use. PLOS ONE, 12(4), e0174878. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0174878Li, Y., Zhang, X., Lu, F., Zhang, Q., & Wang, Y. (2014). Internet Addiction Among Elementary and Middle School Students in China: A Nationally Representative Sample Study. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17(2), 111-116. doi:10.1089/cyber.2012.0482Winfree, L. T. (2015). Social Learning Theory and Delinquent Behavior. The Handbook of Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice, 257-273. doi:10.1002/9781118513217.ch17