14 DAY TRIAL // In the mid-90s, when the Internet was just starting to “suck in” many of the world's children, scientists were panicked, and the conclusions of their studies on the effect of the Internet followed suit. They interpreted the Web as a dark and cruel place, where numerous dangers stalked the kids and teens of the world, just waiting to harm them. But the most widespread concern was that it facilitated online relationships, thus damaging those in real-life. Now, a good decade later, scientists revisit those fears.
First of all, the fact that in the mid-90s only one in ten teenagers in Western countries had access to the Internet should not go unmentioned. At this point, many of them get online everyday with cable or fiber optic links, which means that the Internet has now, indeed, become a social network tool, as evidenced by the millions or hundreds of millions of users sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have. It would appear at this point that teenagers do not use them to make new friendships, but rather to nurture existing ones.
The appearance of instant messaging and social media services means that the children find it a lot easier to communicate with their buddies. And they do so privately, without having to expose their conversations to the prying eyes of strangers on public chat rooms. And recent studies indicate that kids and teens usually communicate with the same friends they see over the day while online, and do not browse the Web in search for other people.
However, one of the main uses of the Internet is to make new ones. Because of the large array of options most sites and instant messaging programs are equipped with, teens and adults alike can easily talk or type to friends who are thousands of miles away, in different corners of the world. This tendency is proved by the fact that more and more grown-up individuals start using services such as Facebook in order to stay connected with mates from high school or college.
Psychologists say that one of the most useful things that people can do on the Internet is to have deep, meaningful conversations with each other, without having to worry about social cues and other persons. The communication take place between two individuals sitting as comfortably as possible in front of their computers, where they feel safe, and can open up to their conversation partner. Even though kids and teens rarely discuss with a psychiatrist online, experts maintain that it's good for them to at least get problems off their chest through instant messaging.