Are Children Smarter Because of the Internet?
Trey B.
In our generation children grow up spending their time on the internet, from TV to video games, and even in school. The internet is filled with information, games, videos, etc., but the question is, are children smarter because of the internet? Internet Usage by Children
Children
spend countless hours on the internet everyday. Studies show that the average child between ages eight to eighteen years old spends approximately 44 and a half hours on the internet per week. That's almost two days every week! This is including them going to school, which takes up about seven hours five days per week. There are 168 hours in one week, with 35 of these spent at school and about 63 of these hours sleeping, leaving only about 70 hours of the week of their own time, in which they are spending 44 hours of on the internet, leaving only 36 hours of their own time not on the internet. Imagine for every hour you spend off of the internet you spend one hour and twenty minutes on the internet. While many adults think of this as a major issue that need to be looked at and/ or fixed, some look at the bright side of it and think kids are learning during this period.
What and Where are Children Learning on the Internet Children use the internet all the time for things such as games and entertainment, but they also are using it to learn whether they realize it or not. When kids are at school for instance, they use the Internet to look up facts and information that would not have been available to them without the Internet. There are also many educational applications and programs used for educational purposes, more often used among young children and toddlers. As these kids get older, it is likely that they are assigned research papers that they have to write. These force children to use the Internet and go through many sources gaining countless amounts of information on the topics from multiple different websites and sources. There are also some games that are educational that many children play such as an app called trivia crack in the App Store. Through apps and games like these children are also learning. Some children even enjoy educational articles and apps so they go in their own time and learn about different topics by reading articles and playing games. There are also many specially developed programs for young kids and toddlers to use to help them before starting in school.
Advantages of Children Growing up with the Internet There are many advantages of children growing up having access to the Internet and all of its information. First off they have access to unlimited information and can access it whenever they want. This allows them to gain more information that children who grew up without the Internet would have never had access to and would likely never have found out or known. Children also are able to contact others immediately without having to meet in person so they can discuss topics about school and get help from other students in their class. They are also able to contact their teachers who can help them regarding a specific subject. There are also websites that you can use to ask people questions regarding different subjects and issues and you can get many different people's opinions. They also have access to educational programs that help them learn especially as toddlers there are many programs to help them to get ready for school and preschool. Before the internet if you wanted to find information you would have to leave your house and go to the library where you would look for this information inside of books, but now you can just stay at home and search the internet for it without having to go anywhere.
“According to a 2005 Pew Research Center report, 82% of 12-17 year olds are now online, 24 percent more then then the previous four years�
Disadvantages of Children Growing up with the Internet While there are many advantages of children growing up with the internet, there are also many disadvantages of a child growing up with the internet. Before, when kids grew up without the luxury of the internet, every thing they learned they had to memorize in order to be able to remember and access that information, they couldn't simply just look up what they needed to know about without leaving and going to the library. Now, for kids who are growing up with the internet, they are not required to memorize everything they learn, therefor causing them to not obtain these memorization skills that will help them all throughout their lives. The internet also distracts children from their learning due to its many games and apps causing them to become behind in school and lose focus. Some children become so revolved around video games and the internet that that is all that they do outside of school this can even cause childhood obesity in young kids which will affect them in a negative way for the rest of their lives.
Are Children Smarter? There are many advantages and disadvantages to children growing up with the internet available to them. Having the ability to look up unlimited amounts of information with the press of a button is very helpful to a child growing up. With this they can find loads of information that would have otherwise not have been available to them without the internet. But with this luxury there are also consequences, since all of this information is available to them they are not having to do the strict memorization that kids used to have to do, while to some this may seem like a good thing since they are having to do less work, but this is a valuable skill that they are not properly learning that could be very useful to them in the long run. There are many apps and games that could be to a child's advantage at an early age, but there are also many apps and games that distract them from their learning and/or make them lose track on their learning. This argument could go either way, but in my opinion I think that children in fact are smarter because of the internet. Bibliography: Buyessays. "Are Children Mor Socialized Because of the Internet?"Marketme. N.p., 01 Mar. 2014. Web. 3 Mar. 2016. <www.marketme.co.uk>.
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