The Effects of the Internet on Teenagers

The Internet has become increasingly a major part of our lives.It can be used at home, work, schools, and libraries and with wire less technology, surfing the web is everywhere. It estimated that 90% of the American teenagers use the Internet. These youngsters usually visit some websites to get homework done, post their profiles on my space, attend chat rooms, and send e-mails. This increase in using the Internet has made psychologists and parents concerned about its effect on teenagers. Research have found that it affects both their social skills and behaviors.[1]

It was found that males use the Internet more than females do. Most of the boys spent their time playing violent video games with other boys at home or online,or sometime alone. While the girls are more likely to spend their time on social interaction, even online by chatting and gossiping with their friends or doing online shopping.[2] Because of this, teenagers may become addicted to the Internet, and this will lead to depression and isolation from society.

If children spend most of their time online, it could make them more exposed to pornography. Some of public chat rooms were designed for sex talk, and by entering these rooms with different identities, children may come out of their shells and be open to topics about sex and ask questions that they may never ask their parents, sometimes exchanging links of porn movies and pictures. Pornography and sexual media can influence sexual violence, sexual attitudes, moral values, and sexual activity, among children and youth.[3]

The Internet if not used correctly, is a waste of time especially for youngsters. Instead of doing there homework and research it will effect their social skills and behaviors. Parents should always supervise children and teenagers in this. Reducing the number of hours of Internet usage to two per day, and placing the computer in a non-private room of the house, may decrease the negative impact on youth.

MALAK ALTAIS

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[1] http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/718369/what_effect_does_using_the_internet.html?cat=15

[2] http://www.cdmc.ucla.edu/downloads/Adolescent%20Internet%20usepdf.pdf

[3] http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/6883

Internet Use and Age Groups

Internet Use and Age Groups

In modern society, most people use the Internet in order to live convenient. Many e-business companies are born every year. Because of different age of Internet users, on-line company should target proper ages. For instance, Starcraft, which is children’s famous on-line game, and Facebook, which is popular blog website, target children, and Google, famed search engine, has users that are teenagers and university students. Adults use Hotmail and Internet stores more than any other age.

Children use the Internet for entertainment. Most of boys use the Internet to play on-line games with friends. When they play games, both connect to the same on-line game website, so they can play games together, even though they are not in the same place. And they buy itemsto use only the Internetto win over other players. On the other hand, girls use messenger and blogs more than games. They usually spend money to make their blogs prettier to attract the other’s eyes. This makes children spend more time and money on the Internet at home than to go outside. That is why most on-line game and blog websites try to concentrate on children.

While children use the Internet for entertainment, teenagers use it to get useful information. Most teenagers are students, so they use it for academic purposes more than enjoyment. For example, when they write essays, they search through the Internet to get useful information. Students do not have to go the library to find information; they can save time. If they pay money, they can get more professional information. Also, when they apply to universities, they get information about them using their own websites; it is unnecessary to go the university directly. When they find job offers, they link the company’s website to get its specific information such as pop-up links about job offers. What is more, people can send in applications directly in the Internet.

In contrast to children and teenagers, adults use the Internet for daily life. Employees sometimes work until night, meaning that they do not have much time to go out and enjoy their free time. Therefore, they buy a variety of products using the Internet stores. The biggest advantage of that is people do not have to go to the store to buy goods. So lots of the Internet stores target adults who do not have much time to go out. Teenagers use messengers to get in touch with their friends, but workers use email to contact with co-workers, which is free unlike business calls. If people use email, it is easy to say difficult words. Moreover, adults use Internet banking services instead of going to the bank, and housekeepers can get information about domestic life.

People can do numerous things with the Internet such as playing games, chatting with friends, buying goods, and getting useful information, helping them live in comfort. Internet companies concentrate on entertainment for children, academic purposes for teenagers, livelihood for adults. Depending on the age of Internet users, websites should use different method of publicity so as to attract appropriate people to them.


Jieung Im

Pricing Systems of eBay

Pricing systems of eBay link with bidding, selling, buying, and shipping. Bidding is like an auction. When you buy something, you enter your maximum price higher than current bid until time-limit, and then you can buy it, if you are the highest bidder. When you buy goods, you pay with credit or debit cards with PayPal, which is the safest and fastest method of payment. You can get a refund if it has defects or you dislike it. However, before you buy items, you should think considerably. Wherever you are, you can buy products, and USPS ships everywhere. You cannot sell alcohol, drugs, lottery tickets, animals or wildlife products. If you use the eBay website, you have to pay selling fees: insertion fee, final value fee, listing upgrade fee. However, if the items don't sell, you don't have to pay final value fee. All fees depend on the categories of products. When you buy or sell items on eBay, you have to consider the rules.

 E-bay Boston Classifieds

Jieung Im

The Detrimental Effect of Advertising On Teenagers

 Noor Al Moataz

            There is more than one definition of to the word “population.” One definition is “the total number of people inhabiting a country, city, or any area.”[1] Another is “the number or body of inhabitants of a particular race or class in a place.”[2] In summary, numerous meanings are applicable to this word, but in this statement I plan on tackling only one of them. My own interpretation of the word population is today’s generation, explicitly the youth. There is a solid link between today’s youth and advertising, which has a huge impact on adolescents causing them to undertake actions that benefit them negatively.

            “Advertisement is a paid announcement, as of goods for sale, in newspapers or magazines, on radio or television”.[3] Most of the time, ads sell more than the product presented; by extension, the company is selling the image that surrounds the product. The images portrayed are mostly unrealistic, pressuring vulnerable teenagers to feel the need to change themselves physically and mentally to fit the new standard introduced in their minds. Because advertisements in the media play such striking roles in the everyday actions, these advertisements are responsible for the demise of our youthful populous.

            An example of this negative influence would be the advertisements in magazines such as Vogue and Elle. A woman that resembles a stick figure or a muscular man areselling jeans. However, the commercial emphasizes sexual images rather than the jeans themselves. Hence this distorts the youth’s view. Therefore, they succumb to buying the pair of jeans, which implies the sale of sexuality as well. It is important to realize that these advertisements are not only selling sexuality, for when consumers purchase the product, they are attempting to buy the image, too. From food to fashion, a man or woman who are both more appealing to the human eye than the product itself represent the product, making it seem less important than the purpose of the advertisement. This kind of statement is shown multiple times. Youth already struggle enough during awkward stages of their life such as puberty. Having these physical expectations put into their minds at this age by ads  burdens them with the constant need to fill a void.

            More commonly, these images often encourage anorexia or bulimia. Those two conditions affect both the mind and body, encouraging teenagers, to transform themselves into the super-human portrayed by multinational companies. Some advertising campaigns can even lead to the destruction of a family, meaning the concern and care parents have for their children, who are trying to lose weight or buff up in unconventional ways in order to resemble some of the models in these advertisements.

In conclusion, however advertising campaign managers and companies should attemt to avoid affering false hopes in their campaigns, it is understandable and a technique of marketing that these promotional photographs are simply used to facilitate consumerism. Consumerism has become embedded in our genetic code; nevertheless, it has become a strain on our lifestyles. We work to make money to spend on mechandise that can deliver the false hope and dreams, which are paid for dearly in the physical and mental currency.

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[1] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Population

[2] http://www.investorwords.com/3738/population.html

[3] http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=advertisement

Identity Theft

Identity Theft

 “Sister Used Credit Card and Her Name for Committing Crimes,”[1] “Identity Theft Victim's House has Loans Against It, Rented out to Tenants,”[2] “Victim of Identity Theft Being Hounded for Back Taxes, Under Suspicion of U.S. Customs Dept.”[3] This kind news have came out more and more frequently since people started to use a new method to purchase things -- Online shopping. Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. For example, an online shop, eshop, e-store, internet shop, webshop, webstore, online store, or virtual store, all of them provide a lot of kind of products for people online. People only need to sit in front of their computer and move the mouse in their homes. They can buy almost anything they want. However, nothing is perfect. Purchasing things on internet, people have to risk a danger-- identity theft.

Identity theft is criminal behavior, meaning an imposter uses other person’s name, I.D. number, date of birth, phone number, address, or anything that can make the person unique, even the person’s favorite color, to do something like purchasing, renting, selling, opening account or even committing a crime.  Actually, identity theft had taken place before people started to use the Internet, and this crime has become aggravated because of the growth of online shopping.  When people purchase products on the Internet, they need to fill their personal information along with at least the credit card number on certain sheet.

  Although the online store usually attempts to use specific computer programs for security, hackers can break the line of defense and steal whatever information they want.  No matter if the hackers use this personal information by themselves or sell it to other people, the victims face very serious consequences. The worse thing is that the victim usually unaware their identity has been stolen until they discover their loss or receives the summons.  According to statistics, the number of US adult victims of identity theft was 8.4 million in 2007, and their total loss was $49.3 billion.[4] The number represents a huge black hole behind convenience of online shopping. People do need to know how to use one stone to kill two birds, getting all benefits of online shopping and averting the danger of it.

   Even though most countries have built systems to help the victims to recover their loss back then do not usually work very well. Therefore, the best policy is protecting ourselves when we purchase productions online. We can take some steps such as the following. First of all, use a strong password. Many people use their phone number or date of birth as password, and it is very danger. A strong password must be created by more complex thinking. Second, do not follow the links you do not know where they go.  In fact, “the truly dangerous thing about online shopping has absolutely nothing to with your own computer.”[5] Hackers usually implant viruses into websites. When people connect to these poisoned websites, they download the virus automatically. And then, the personal information will be concealed either by publishing on the Internet or sending it to the hackers. Third, since hackers very often create viruses, what we should do is to renew our anti-virus program version frequently. These are three rudimentary and most important steps to prevent damage from identity theft.

In summary, we need to learn the dark side of online shopping. We admit that to purchase productions on the internet is a revolution of business, and it has a lot of advantages like convenience, saving time, lower prices and so on. If we are oblivious to our traps on the internet and do not take some methods to protect ourselves, however, suffering the consequences will be very critical. Therefore, take the suggestions and your information will be safe. (647)      

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[1] http://www.privacyrights.org/cases/victim25.htm

[2] http://www.privacyrights.org/cases/victim30.htm

[3] http://www.privacyrights.org/cases/cases2004-2005.htm

[4] http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/idtheftsurveys.htm

[5] http://www.identitytheftchief.com/online-shopping.html

Internet in Our Life

Computers and the Internet are more affordable today than in the past. Specialized computer skills are not needed to access the Internet for emailing, messaging, and even talking in chat rooms. People who cannot afford a personal computer or internet service provider are now able to access the Internet in libraries, community centers and other locations. Accessing personal computers is not restricted to people of higher economic social classes.


One of the primary uses of the internet is to open conversation with other people. Many of us would prefer to speak to the person sitting next to them in the office through computer rather than face to face. Persons with poor social skills are often uncomfortable with face to face experiences. Online enables people with poor social skills to avoid offline social interactions and discomfort. With time, this isolation from people and just communicating with computers might cause depression. On the other hand, other research shows that the communication and chatting using Internet are good ways to make new friends worldwide and break the barrier between different people. Therefore, people have become familiar with other counties and cultures, especially teenagers who sharpening important social skills online and avoiding being unsafe when they are out at parks1.


Most of people use Internet in everyday life. “Current estimates indicate that 149 million people are online worldwide, and that number is increasing at the rate of 12% a month.” This raises the question: Are we addicted to Internet? According to criteria that psychologists often use, we can see Internet use ranging from 6% to 80%. Some symptoms of this disorder are using the computer to relieve stress, feeling depressed when not using it, spending most of their money on computer products and neglecting work or school 2.


Generally, people are shifting from direct contacts to indirect contacts using Internet. From my experience when i was a teenager, I loved talking on the phone with my friends all the time. Perhaps just repeating stories over and over. When I became a secondary school student, I started using email, and by the end of the year most of my friends became good users of the Internet. And now as I get older, I feel that I don’t want to talk on the phone. I prefer to send messages or emails unless a person is my close friend. Now, we can see most people contacting each other using Facebook which has became more popular in Saudi Arabia. You can’t imagine that one of my friends invited us to her wedding using the face book and I can know everything about my friends wherever they are just through Facebook. However, sometimes I feel sorry about my relationship with my friends because it is lessening over times but still I can find excuses that all of us are busy to achieve our goals.

Sarah Bahammam

Internet: The key factor In the Millenials

“Millennial” is a term used in reference to a person born within 1977-1998 , which is today’s youth. A large part of them live in an electronic-based world where iPods, laptops, and cell phones have become essential tools in their everyday life. Everything in this generation is germane to communicate, and the Internet is the best tool for that. Having these electronic devices and Internet means having larger sources of information. If that is so, is it possible that the internet could be a decisive factor in today’s youth behavior?.


The term “Millennial” was created by William Strauss and Neil Howe and it emerge as a title to named all the people born within 1977-1988. These authors have been studying the American generations since 1584. Their publications have become matters for debate, opinion and discussion. Richard Sweeney, university librarian at New Jersey Institute of Technology stands “Change your teaching style. Make blogs, iPods, and video games part of your pedagogy. And learn to accept divided attention spans. A new generation of students has arrived --and sorry, but they might not want to hear you lecture for an hour“ .


The Internet is the key factor in this behavior, granting access to all kind of information in small time increases the expectation in the quality of knowledge. According to the PEW Internet and American Life Project over 17 million American teenagers (12 to 17 years) use the Internet for communication purpose (instant messaging, emails, music, etc.) That means that teenagers need to stay in contact and communicate with each other, because they have all this information accessible at all time, their homework and research can be completed easily in no time, which makes them less interested in their classes; they can do their homework and research while listening music and talking with their friends.


It is also important to mention that the Internet has lots of dangers; getting tough information earlier (such as drugs, tattoos, chemical reactions etc.) can act as a detriment to the normal development of a child. Also the new social-networks (like facebook, myspace etc.) put in danger the privacy of users by allowing thirds to keep in touch with them, this can end in sexual harassment, hounding or stalkers.


It is true that the Internet is a wide opened window that everyone can look through, but you have to be really careful on what to focus because you can find harmful things in that view. The sight through this window is unique from person to person, and it helps growing teenagers on finding their answers for their questions. By receiving this information in multiple ways, the internet change the way that teenagers grow, it shapes their thoughts by clearing their concerns, or damage them by giving wrong or harmful information. Either way, the internet is the most valuable tool for the generation of millennials.

Fernando Blohm