How do you view the Internet's impact on kids? Do you worry about it - or not? Do you have a story to share?

While I think that the internet is very beneficial for many reasons, I do agree that the internet can impact kids negatively. To begin, the internet can be a dangerous place for children. The number of sexual predators is increasing everyday, and many children and parents are not aware of this danger. To add to this, it is very difficult for parents to monitor their children's activity on the internet. In order to do so, parents would have to have a lot of time on their hands, so that they could be constantly checking up on their kids. Children probably spend a lot more time on the internet than their parents, and for this reason they are more skilled and aware of how to go around parental controls, like the boy in the video. Another reason that the internet can be negative on the lives of children is the loss of physical activity. Children are spending a lot of time on their computers instead of playing outside and being active with their friends. I know this is true with my brother Jeffrey. When he comes home from school the first thing he does is go on the interent to check his myspace and go on aim. He can sit their for hours without getting up and then do it all over again the next day. This lack of physical activity will create an unhealthy lifestyle that can lead to many different types of diseases in the future. One other example of the negative impact of the internet is the lack of academic motivation. For example, in the video one of the students described how he would read spark notes on the interent instead of reading books and got by in school that way. Even though the interent can be very beneficial in academic achievement, it can also create for cheating and academic dishonesty.
In summary, even though I believe in the internet and how it can be an aid in learning, after watching the video I can see how many negative effects the internet is having on your youth. With the internet being such a huge part of the lives of teenagers, I believe that it is important for parents to continue to monitor their children's activity and more importantly, they need to limit the time that their children are allowed to be on the internet.