The Internet has become a major part of everyday life for most Americans especially today’s youth but some say that internet has a negative effect on youth more than a positive one. The question is: are all of the effects of the internet negative? The internet is used by most youth for entertainment, to find information and to connect with people. Unfortunately while the internet can be useful it has been known to cause negative effects on children. Social networking sites are very popular among today’s youth. In recent years cyber bullying has become a trend among youth because of the internet. There are also cases that youth have been exposed to inappropriate websites while on the internet and it had a negative effect on them. The internet has been known to cause a negative effect on youth but it can be prevented if their internet use is monitored.
Social networking websites that are popular on the internet Twitter, MySpace, face book and YouTube. It is said by some that youth spend more time on websites like these than studying and doing their homework. While most of the young people in the study got good grades, 47 percent of the heaviest media users, those who consumed at least 16 hours a day, had mostly C’s or lower, compared with 23 percent of those who typically consumed media three hours a day or less (New York Times). Some youth can spend all day on social networking sites. Often times social networking sites can also become a distraction to youth. Most youth would much rather get on face book or twitter than study or write a paper. Most of the time youth can begin writing a paper but end up spending hours on face book. Social networking sites also have been known to cause children to be kidnapped or raped. Because of the amount of information that can be put on these sites it is easy for them to be tracked. There have also been cases where youth have chatted