White paper

To: Professor Rachael Bailey

From: Internet Group

Date: October 10, 2020

Subject: Teenagers and the Internet

Background:

The internet can be a very informative and useful tool, but not without consequences. Over the years, more and more studies have been done on the effects of the internet on adolescent minds. These studies have shown that some online activities lead to more mental health issues than others, such as gaming, social media, and online gambling. These are the consequences that the internet exposes.

Proposed Solutions:

1.​ ​Our first proposed solution is to restrict a teenager’s access to the internet. By restricting websites with potentially harmful content, the teenager would not be exposed to the harmful content, or they would at least have to try much harder to access harmful content.

2.​ ​A second solution is to teach teenagers how to be safe on the internet. Knowing how to be safe on the internet is an important skill to have. Either by teaching adolescents to avoid certain searches and websites, or by teaching them how to safely comprehend and talk about things they may have seen on the internet could help them from negative mental health consequences (i.e. such as anxiety or depression).

3.​ ​Our final solution is to change the internet to be more teenager friendly, such as outright banning harmful websites like online gambling, which could lead to a gambling addiction later in life (Hokby et al.).

Formal Request:

With growing access to social media and the internet, teenagers are becoming more negatively distracted this topic is a rising concern among parents and teachers. Many issues come from internet usage such as behavior, respect and attention problems. We formally request the all clear to address this topic and bring knowledge to the concern of teenagers and high internet usage.

Potential Sources:

Ding, Qingwen, et al. “Perceived Parental Monitoring and Adolescent Internet Addiction: A Moderated Mediation Model.” ​Addictive Behaviors​, Pergamon, 2017, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460317302113?casa_token=tvJ-n WQYQuQAAAAA%3Ag-76TyvIxrtb0QvzjVoJc4omTmgEil7B_iggF2aSC5JyG4x TtAeMLNP_Tdf9udqKrFL9bTY.

Hökby, S. et al. “Are Mental Health Effects of Internet Use Attributable to the Web-Based Content or Perceived Consequences of Usage? A Longitudinal Study of European Adolescents”, 2010. ​https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4963606/

IJ. Bakken, KG. Gotestam, et al. “Association Between Internet Gambling and Problematic Internet Use Among Adolescents.” ​Journal of Gambling Studies​, Springer US, 1994, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10899-010-9223-z.