Do Teens Need the Internet?

Nadia R

July 31, 2011

Persuasive Writing

Do Teens Need the Internet?

We were running out of time; the score was tied one to one. Rain was mixing with the sweat on my forehead and the pain was starting to travel up through my legs, but at this point I couldn’t care less. My mind was only on one thing: defend my goalie. The referee blew the whistle, and play resumed. It was the state championship, and you could literally cut the tension with a knife. The crowd was in a competition of their own, which bleacher could cheer louder. But on the field the real fight was beginning, eye black smudged, bruises ready to appear, intensity all across the face, and forty-five minutes on the clock. Second-by-second, minute-by-minute, time ticked on; the score stayed still. Finally the last two minutes came along, and as swiftly as fox number three dribbled up the field, she crossed the ball into the box and my teammates head angled it towards the net. Goal! We had scored. Now all that was left to do was defend. After what seemed like hours, but was only minutes the final whistle blew and we had just won the state championships, I thought I was dreaming. Tears of joy dripped out of my eyes, and my team happily boarded the bus. After fifteen minutes of pure delight on the ride home, a realization hit me. I was going to get home around 8 o’clock, my research paper on women’s rights in Afghanistan was due the next day, and I hadn’t started. I had no time to go to the library to research, and all I could think was Thank God for Google.

In previous decades teenagers have never been this busy. In this day and age high school and college students have so much going on. Many if not most teens have to manage school and a part-time job, but also they participate in some sort of extra-curricular activity such as sports, drama, clubs, and music. Although the youth of American may be in the progress of becoming totally dependant on the Internet; it is a necessity for teen use in order for them to excel at school while being able to attend everything on their busy schedules. Going to library, checking out books, and researching encyclopedias have become old fashioned. Teens have no time to sit and look to find the answer, they need it immediately. From my own personal experiences, I have learnt that without search engines like Google Scholar, and Bing I would never have had my essays in on time.

Internet usage is growing, more and more people are becoming able to access it through phones, iPods, laptops, and public computers. The constant advancement of systems and search engines on the Internet is highly beneficial for teens. In my opinion, the Internet helps teens control their busy schedules by allowing them to take less time on their homework so they are able to perform in their other activities as well as keeping up in school while still being able to have a decent nights rest. Most people think there may be a simple solution to this dependency on the Internet, teens taking on fewer activities. As a student athlete, I am dedicated to my sport, and love going to practice every day. Time management is my only option in solving this dilemma because I could not imagine my life without soccer or track in my life. Also this blend between schoolwork and various activities is essential for high school students across the country and world to get into the college or university of their choice. There is so much competition to get into college, that these activities could make you shine out more to admissions officer rather than someone else. Nowadays an after school activity is necessary, and extra time is key which the Internet allows teens to have.

Teenage dependency on the Internet is a rather controversial issue. Some people find that the Internet may not be helping the youth but rather harming them. A firm believer that the Internet is distracting teens is Sue Scheff, founder of Parent Universal Resource Experts. Her online website (http://www.sue-scheff.net/) discusses how the digital generation of kids may becoming addicted to the Internet, and gives advice to parents on how to monitor their children’s usage of it. She talks about how social networking websites such as Facebook, and MySpace are causing a constant distraction that can alter their social and educational development.

I do agree up to a point with Scheff. I cannot even count the amount of times I have gone to Facebook while reading articles, writing essays, and doing various assignments of the sort. In general people need breaks from boring activities such as homework, Facebook acts as my break. Social networking and gaming sites could occupy others break time. But these distractions are just simply just a break; if these sites were not available for people, they would resort to other distractions such as getting up to get food or talking on the phone to friends.

A study conducted by students at Michigan State University between December 2000 and June 2002, followed a group of children between the ages of ten and eighteen. The experiment was designed to find out whether or not the Internet is beneficial for students in low-income studies. The usage of the Internet for these select children was monitored, and their academic performances were obtained. Results showed that the students using the Internet more had higher scores on standardized tests in reading, and also had greater grade point averages than the children using the Net less. According to this study, the Internet does not harm academic achievements but improves them.

The Internet is a valuable tool to all ages, but it is essential for high school and college students. Their hectic schedules demand a quick alternative to a trip to the library, which search engines and databases on the Internet are happy to provide. Though some people have mixed feelings on whether or not the World Wide Web is just distraction in disguise, I believe that for teens the Net is not just a want but a need.