Children Using The Internet Can Be Dangerous

Hannah Slaughter
Castle
English IV
21 November, 2016

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Children Using The Internet Can Be Dangerous

Thesis: The campaign to increase safe technology among children needs to be improved to
reduce cyberbullying, instances of poor self image development, and increase predator
awareness.
I.

Campaigning to increase safe technology among children to reducing cyberbullying

A. Statistics show:
1. 65% of children 8-14 that have been in a cyber bully incident.
2. About 88% of teens have called or said something cruel about another
person online.
3. More than 50% of teens have been bullied online
4. 90% of teens have seen cyberbullying and ignored it
5. 81% of teens say cyberbullying is easier online than in real life.
6. Girls are twice as more likely to be cyberbullied than boys.
B. Children most of the time wont speak up.
1. Some children will think it is weird if they speak up about getting
cyberbullied
2. Kids dont think the adults will help them with the cyberbullying
3. Kids also think that the adults could make the situation worse
4. 1 out of 10 children will inform an adult about being cyber bullied
5. 68% of teens say that cyberbullying is a serious problem.

II.

Campaigning to increase safe technology among children to reducing instances of poor

self image

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A. Social media affects young children and teens by certain amount of likes,
retweets, following, etc.
1. Children tend to get on any website they can without the parents
knowledge, parents should be more strict on the sires that the children get
on.
2. Perez said in his article that children feel the need to get a certain amount
of likes.
3. Perez also states that when the child gets a certain amount of likes, that in
their brain it releases dopamine which makes them happy.
4. Not getting a certain amount of likes can lead to depression.
5. Most children and teens view themselves badly when not getting enough
likes on a post.
B. Teens have a choice in harming their self image
1. Raney explains that it is the person who has the account that affects their
self image.
2. Raney also states that, teens want to be perfect but in a society today no
one is perfect
3. If young children dont get enough likes or comments, they question if
their post was good enough or even if they are good enough.
III.

Campaigning to increase safe technology among children to increase predator awareness

A. Children sometimes unknowingly associate with predators online
1. In 2015 there was 799,041 Registered Sex Offenders in the United States

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2. There are 16% teens that are willing to meet the person that they have
been talking to online.
3. There are 75% share their personal information online
4. There are 33% of teens that are friends with people they dont know
5. The law enforcement officials estimate that there was more than 50,000
sexual predators are online.
6.

Teens think it is basically all about popularity.

B. Parents need to realize what websites their children use

1. Most parents dont know what sites their children get on without being
told
2. Children should have rules on which sites to go on
3. Notice what kinds of pictures the child post online
4. Teach about online reputation and to be a good example on how to use the
internet.
C. No need for a campaign to increase safer technology practices/Argument
1. Amber Alerts
2. Sends out information about missing children
3. Every 40 seconds a child goes missing in the United States
4. More than 700,000 children go missing each year
5. There are 250,000 children are classified as Runaways
6. About 150,000 children are classified as Throw-away/Abandoned
7. There are 300,000 children are classified as Missing / Abducted

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8. And 58,000 of children are taken by non-family members

9. Public Service Announce
10. Are short messages produced on film, videotape, DVD, CD, audiotape, or
as a computer file and given to radio and television stations.
11. There are more than 45 million PSA tests are performed worldwide
annually.
12. Public Service announcements try and grab the attention of the person
listening or reading
D. Adults still have no idea of what their child does on the internet with the Amber
Alerts and Public Service Announcements./Reply
1. About 70% of children hide their behavior from their parents online.
2. There are 53% of children clear their browsing history
3. Teenagers do not think of the situation or outcome
4. Parents still do not know what is really going on with their child on the
internet

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Hannah Slaughter
LaWanda Castle
English IV Honors
13, May 2016

Children Using The Internet Can Be Dangerous

Teenagers need to be more cautious when it comes to using the internet, most teens do
not know what is truly out there for them to see. Technology is very popular and so is social
media, with kids getting electronic devices at such a young age it can have a big affect on them.
Children should know the responsibilities when it comes to using the internet. The internet can
become a very dangerous place when not used properly. The campaign to increase safe
technology among children needs to be improved to reduce cyberbullying, instances of poor self
image development, and increase predator awareness. By increasing safer technology and having
further awareness of what is really out there, the internet can become a more secure place for the
children.
Increasing safer technology can lead to reducing cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is critical
to our society, most teens believe that there will be no consequences to cyberbullying someone.
Cyberbullying is the use of communicating using threatening words or sending uncalled-for
messages with degrading verbiage using technology to bully someone. More than fifty percent of
children are victims of cyberbullying (Internet Statistics Guard Child). Sixty-five percent of
children between the ages of eight and fourteen have been bullied through technology (Internet

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Statistics Guard Child). With the rise of technology the teen group will take advantage of the
technical knowledge. People say that these are the hardest years of a childs life, getting
cyberbullied or even bullied does not help a child have good self image about themselves. Being
cyber bullied hurts people by giving them poor self image, have internalize pain, and makes
them think negatively towards themselves and the world around them. It is declared that
eighty-eight percent of teenagers have antagonized, degraded or said something mean and cruel
to someone (Internet Statistics Guard Child). Children think cyberbullying is easier than real life
bullying, and it is. They feel it is easier because they are not face to face with the victim but
behind a computer screen. Weather or not, the bullying is through personal interaction or with
the use of technology, it still has the same effects on teenagers. Many kids do not feel guilty by
bullying with technology because they are hidden behind a computer screen. About ninety
percent of teens have seen cyberbullying and did not do anything about it (Internet Statistics
Guard Child). Girls are more likely to be cyberbullied than boys (Internet Statistics Guard
Child). Girls are known to have more social groups than their counterparts and are more
emotional. Girls can get into fights with their best friend and not speak to them for months, but if
a guy gets into a fight with his best friend, they will most likely be friends the next week
(Internet Statistics Guard Child).
To decrease cyberbullying children need to speak up. Most children are not speaking up
about seeing someone being cyberbullied. Many children are scared to speak up or think it is
weird if they do. A lot of children that witness others being persecuted think that if they speak up
then they will get made fun of or even start getting bullied themselves. Often times, they are
afraid that they may lose friends and popularity amongst their peers if they object to the cruel

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intentions displayed by others. To often, kids remain silent behind their technology and become
only observers to the emotional suffering afflicted by cyber cruelty. Teenagers do not always
reach out to an adult in their lives because, often times, they are embarrassed and believe that
adults will not take it seriously enough to help them. Kids also believe that adults could make
the situation worse if they get involved. By adults getting involved this could cause the child to
experience more excessive bullying out of retaliation from the situation. Kennedy-Moore said
"Psychologists call it diffusion of responsibility, when everyone assumes that someone else will
intervene." Only one out of ten children would inform an adult about their situation. There are
sixty-eight percent of children that realize cyberbullying is a serious problem but they will not
stand up for one another (Internet Statistics Guard Child). When children are younger, roughly
between the ages seven through twelve, adults teach them that if someone is being mean to them
then it is flirting or the person likes you. So children grow up thinking that it is okay to bully
because they are just showing someone they like you. Sometimes children do not realize how
hurtful their words and actions can be. Children could be joking around and say something
without knowing they hurt the other person's feelings. People's feelings often get hurt and they
will not tell the person out of pride (Kennedy-Moore, Eileen, Ph.D.).
Increasing safer technology can reduce poor self image, in some cases, teenagers have a
low self esteem because of the internet. Most teens today have a form of social media. With
technology increasing, kids would think it would be weird not to have one. Among those teens,
many identify their self worth with the popularity with these sites. On social media, the person
who has the account can chose rather or not to like a post. Perez said "Researchers find that the
more time people spend on social media, the more depressed they become when comparing their

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lives to others. By constantly referencing the pictorial perfection that is portrayed through social
media accounts, it makes people feel bad about their own lives for not seeming as exciting and
perfect". People can become depressed because their life does not seem good enough. Perez
also said "When getting likes, the reward system in the brain is activated and releases dopamine,
causing people to associate likes with the same pleasure one may feel from taking narcotics", this
shows that getting likes on social media can affect the brain. In cases where children are being
bullied, others will not like or interact with the victim on social media because they are afraid
that they may become victimized as well. Depending on the situation, social media can lead to
depression or only being happy for a certain amount of time. We often view ourselves on how
many likes we get or if we can get a lot of retweets on a post we make, but what we dont see if
that in the end were affecting our self image (Jamie Perez). Raney says "Another problem teens
face with social media is being accepted into society, or being popular," by teenagers
wanting to feel accepted they want more likes which if not gotten, can lead to depression. If kids
dont get a certain number of likes or retweets they begin to question if their post was good
enough or if they are even good enough. "Social media sabotages the way a teen should live their
life and if teenagers keep believing the way to live is to live by social media, then they are very
limited", said Raney. Teenagers want to be accepted. They think if they do certain things then
they will be accepted. Raney also says "All in all, social media has both positive and negative
aspects to teens self-esteem and health; it is up to our future generations to not let it take over."
Teenagers need to expand their horizon, and try to spend less time on social media. The society
people live in today can be cruel and judgemental, without knowing it. Children should already
know right from wrong, without having to think. If something is not right with a situation the

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child needs to stand up for what is right and not to go with the flow. and Raney said "Social
media deprives teenagers of who they really are, and it is up to teenagers to change their beliefs
and what they are defined by", social media can be an escape for some kids, they can have a
totally different image on social media than in real life. This could affect how other people view
them (Hayley Raney). Rhonda Shelton was interviewed about children using the internet. During
this interview, Mrs. Shelton was asked: Should children under eighteen be able to use the
internet without any instructions on the dangers that exist in technology? Sheltons response to
this question was Not all teenagers know how to use the internet. I think some parents should
know what their children are doing on the internet because the child could end up hurting them
self or someone else in the process. (Personal Interview). Strickland says that teens try to live
up to society's expectations (Jennifer Strickland). Teenagers today accept what adults would not,
teenagers are less strict on how people want to live their lives. Teenagers rebel against adults
because they want to prove to them they can be someone.
Teenagers can also harm their self image depending on what they decide to post.
Children do not realize that what they say and do stays on the internet. Once it is on the internet
it cannot be taken off. Kids do not understand that what they do or say can be found out one way
or another. Someone's reputation can be also affected. Social media can lead to many more
things than just communicating, it can lead to them seeing explicit content, bullying, sexting, and
many more inappropriate material. Tahnk said
Many kids dont seem to understand the permanence of the online world. Make sure to
stress to your kids what a digital footprint is and the impact inappropriate messages or

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images could have if a future college administrator or employer were to stumble upon
them (Jeana Lee Tahnk).
When teenagers compare themselves to other people on the internet it can lead to poor self
esteem, children can develop disorders from wanting to be like someone on the internet.
By increasing safer technology users can detect behaviors of predators that will help them
have a safer internet experience. In 2015 there were 799,041 Registered Sex Offenders in the
United States (Internet Statistics Guard Child). The law enforcement officials estimate that there
were more than 50,000 sexual predators are online (Internet Statistics Guard Child). Children do
not realize that predators can be disguised as someone else or someone they know. The sexual
predators will find the type of child they are looking for and go after them. They will know
everything the child likes, from their favorite food to the type of music they listen to. Predators
will even try to seduce them or start to put sexual content into their conversations. And if the
child decides that they do not like it them they could cut the predator out, but most of the time
the predator will make the child feel bad so they will not leave them. Predators mostly try to
strike up a conversation with the child so they could build trust, and once the child does they
begin to tell them their personal information (Internet Statistics Guard Child). There are
seventy-five percent of teens that have shared some sort of their personal information online with
someone online. Teens want to express themselves so they release their information without
realizing how vulnerable it makes them. Teenagers friend predators without knowing, to them
social media is just a popularity thing, they would rather have more friends/followers than to be
safe (Online Predators-Statistics).

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Parents should always be aware what their child does on the internet. They also should
know what sites their child uses, they will not know without asking their child. Children should
have rules on which sites they can visit, not all children know which sites are bad or good, so the
parent needs to tell them. Parents should set privacy settings so people cannot and will not know
all the information that their child puts online. This information is only for their friends and
family. Many children get abducted by posting and giving out their information to strangers.
Parents need to teach their child that pop-ads are bad for the computer and can cause a virus.
Some viruses can lead to hackers which can wipe out all of the data and get personal
information. Adults should lead a good example of how to use the internet and what goes on it.
(Jeana Lee Tahnk). Parents should know how much time their child actually spends on the
internet. The average child spends six and a half hours on the internet per day. Children need to
know that not all information is private, and to not put all of their business online. Parents should
also make sure their child is not using the internet for harm (Keep Your Child Safe By Learning
About The Internet And Children).
Some people might think that there are already enough safe technology practices. People
also have a false sense of safety due to amber alerts and public service announcements because
these systems only take place after a tragic event has happened. Amber alerts are emergency
response messages that travel over electronical devices to inform when a child is missing. Every
forty seconds a child goes missing in the US. Children can be abducted by anyone including
family members. When a child goes missing the first three hours are crucial, because that is
when the police needs to get all the information from the parents (The Facts About Missing
Children). Public service announcements are almost like amber alerts. Public service

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announcements or for short, PSA, are messages that go over the internet with no charge to
inform awareness over a situation. There are more than 45 million PSA tests that are performed
worldwide a year. Public Service announcements try and grab the attention of the person
listening or reading (All About Public Service Announcements).
Even with amber alerts and public service announcements, parents still do not know what
all their child does on the internet. Amber alerts and PSAs do not tell a parent when the child is
misusing the internet. This does not help the parent in anyway to know what is going on in their
child's computer. Children clear their browsing history when the parent is near them. Most
children do not want their parents to know what they do on the internet so parents need to be
aware of everything. Some children think that they know it all and do not need to listen to their
parents/guardians. Which they are wrong, teenagers do not know all the danger that is on the
internet. Parents should try to protect their child when something wrong goes on. Children do not
really think about the situation and the outcome until it is too late or until something has not gone
the way they planned it to (Jeana Lee Tahnk).
The responsibility of safe practices with technology is a heavy load and should be shared
amongst everyone. First, it starts in the home. Parents should teach their children acceptable
behaviors and proper ways to interact with others. They should also monitor their children's
actions through social media as well as monitor the sites visited by their child. Parents should
have conversations consistently with their children concerning their posts, tweets, or others
actions in their network. Parents should not be afraid to ask questions and discipline where
needed. It is also the responsibility of the leaders in our community to bring awareness to safety
when using technology. Leaders in our community can bring awareness by visiting schools and

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presenting safety presentations. Leaders should build trusting relationship with kids in order for
children to feel safe to discuss issues and seek advice. They should, also, monitor sites and
address potential dangers for children. Many leaders have experience to foresee harmful
situations and should protect all members within the community. They can set laws that will
help improve safe technology. Web sites should share the load to protect children under the age
of eighteen by setting rules and guidelines. These sites should monitor suspicious activity and
act accordingly. They should have systems in place that will detect malicious behaviors and a
routine in place. Lastly, the user should take ownership of their own actions. Often times, teens
are aware of when they are performing actions that are not right and they should not do. Teens
should ask for help when faced with a situation that makes them feel uncomfortable or if they
observe a situation that does not feel acceptable. Everyone must do their part to promote a safe
and fun experience over the internet. By working together, the cyber world can be a safe place.

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