Our+overblown+paranoia+about+teens+and+the+Internet

=Our overblown paranoia about teens and the Internet=

[] May 2011

As a pediatrician, I'm often asked about the effects of technology on kids. Here's what parents should know
It's understandable that -- like television, movies and rock 'n' roll before it -- the Internet has become a lightning rod for parental anxiety.

about 20 percent of youth have been either victims or perpetrators of cyberbullying. contrary to popular perception, cyberbullies are rarely anonymous. Most online bullying victims know their perpetrators, and half are in school with them.

Next, we have concerns about the association between Internet use and mental illness. The most recent buzz term: "Facebook depression." If you Google that term you might be led to believe that letting a teen use Facebook or other social network is going to spark a clinical melancholy. Yet there's no evidence to support such a medical problem. Sensible reports about the story emphasize that excess time on social networks may just be a contemporary symptom of depression and not, as the terminology would suggest, that social media is the latest public health scourge.

Scholars for the Digital Youth Project at the MacArthur Foundation interviewed 800 kids and spent over 5,000 hours observing them in their online lives over a three-year period. The sum of that research: We should be thankful when kids go online, not afraid.

Most young people, they found, spent time online connecting with people they know (and not total strangers who could pose a danger). They gravitated to topics related to sports, religion, school and other local activities in their lives. In contrast with the stereotype that teens waste time online, researchers saw them finding new ways to express themselves and pioneering new rules of social behavior through blogging, movie making and podcasting. They became more media savvy.

"Don't demonize Facebook or other sites, or kids will just tune you out," he said. "We need to get comfortable enough to teach young people to use the Web responsibly."

Ultimately, it's more sensible to teach our kids to be good digital citizens instead of racing to protect them from every tweet, text and graffiti on their Facebook wall. Good citizenship isn't a radical aspiration at all. In that sense, the Internet isn't the brave new world it's cracked up to be. Rather, with all of its opportunities, choices and risks, it's just an extension of the everyday world.