Why Can’t Teenagers Use The Internet?

Many teenagers hang out on the Internet for hours and hours on end. Whether it’s talking to friends, checking out local surf reports, shopping on the web, or just playing games, the Internet is a fun place to go to after school.

The problem is that parents think it is a waste of time and not useful for teenagers. It’s time for parents to learn to trust their children more. Yes, parents have every right to be worried about safety issues on the Internet. Parents worry that teenagers will come across an inappropriate website while they are surfing the net. However, parents can restrict sites so that the inappropriate sites will not be allowed to be visited.

Another problem is that parents feel that teenagers are not focusing on schoolwork as much as they focus on the Internet. That can be a major problem, but many high school assignments rely on access to the Internet. For example, many teachers at El Segundo High use forum.bitcrank.com for assignments. Without the use of the Internet, how are students supposed to do the assignments and extra credit, especially if they need it? In Mrs. Brown’s 9^th grade English class, students must do vocabulary pages every Tuesday. These vocabulary pages require the Internet for looking up famous quotes that use the words. Some parents may argue that they had to do these back in the ‘old-days’ when the Internet did not exist, therefore, teenagers today can do it just as they did back then. To find a famous quote by a famous person, wouldn’t you have to search through a book of famous quotes? The Internet is in reality many books. The searches are the same.

Teenagers also need time for their social lives. The Internet is an excellent way to keep in contact with all your close friends. A lot of students have friends who go to different schools and the Internet is the best way to keep in contact with them. Parents might argue and say, ‘That’s why telephones were invented’, but really, is it really possible to talk to 15 friends at the same time on the phone? With the Internet, you can talk to as many people as you want at the exact same time. You can even start a private chat in which all your friends can talk at the same time! The Internet is really a great way to keep in contact with your friends, especially if you don’t get to see them as often as you’d like.

Parents should really think twice about restricting, or complaining about how horrible the Internet is for teenagers. The Internet should not be banned from any teenager because there are many reasons why teens need to use the Internet.

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