Effects of Internet Social Networking on the Lives of Teenagers Essay - 1

Effects of Internet Social Networking on the Lives of Teenagers - Essay Example Social networking sites most commonly in use today are Facebook and Twitter. Most teenagers necessarily visit these websites several times in a day all over the world. According to a recent research generated by the Pew Internet Project, as many as 93 per cent of the teenagers in America between the age of 12 years and 17 years are regular users of the internet, and 55 per cent of such teenagers spends most of the time using social networking websites (Hall). Social networking sites cause a lot of troubles in the life of teenagers. As a result of the expanded social circle because of internet social networking, teenagers are prone to fall in the hands of pedophiles and kidnappers. Internet social networking increases the interaction of a teenager with others. In fact, many studies have found the social networks of internet using teenagers to be much larger than others that do not use the internet. Not only their social circle increases, but also the way they communicate changes. Nowa days, many teenagers can be heard speaking to one another in slang. The time that teenagers spend socializing with others in the virtual world is no less effective than the real world for building relationships and socializing with others. Everyday, hundreds of teenagers fall prey to pedophiles and end up getting into dangerous real world activities. Anonymity is a special feature of the social networking sites. This allows the unscrupulous people to approach the immature teenagers and involve them in harmful activities by conversing with them. The predators can easily project themselves as teenagers. This allows them to draw the teenagers into harmful activities in the real world along with the virtual world. They send messages to the teenagers via these websites. Many teenagers respond to them. The predators may use social networking sites to drive the teenagers into the business of drug dealing or child pornography.