PLN #16

When I read Parents and Internet-Using Teens it raised a very intersting subject. The blog talks about how the internet was originally created for educational purposes but now it seems that students are using it for social purposes more than for education.

What matters: There are alot of good things that can be helpful for students on the internet, but yet there are also alot of bad things on the internet that are very distracting and are inappropriate for teens. Today there less parents that say that the internet has been a good thing for their children than there was in 2004. That doesn't mean that there is an increase in parents who think the internet is bad for their children. It means that there is an increase in parents who think that the internet isn't effecting their children one way or another. Some parents also think that thier children spend to much time on the internet. But parents are often more concerned with what websites their children are looking at more than they worried about how long their children are on the internet.

How it Matters to Me: My parents are constantly concerned with what I am looking at on the internet. They used to be concerened with the amount of time I was on the computer because I used to be on it constantly and yet it was never to do anything educational. But alot of my friends parent don't really care about what their kids are doing on the computer or what they are looking at. I think that the internet is misused alot in todays world. Whenever I get on the computer is usually to keep me entertained and kids don't want to go to educational websites when they are bored. Most kids get on the computer for the same reason as I do. To email, IM, visit chat rooms, YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, ect. Those sites are the main reason children aren't looking at educational things and are staying on the computer for hours on end.