Negative Effects of Internet Addiction on Teenagers

Nowadays our community is going through a big struggle which is the internet addiction. In fact half of all teens say they feel addicted to their mobile devices. That’s right, 50 percent of teens actually admitted that they feel addicted. Just imagine what the real number is. Not only do teens feel they can’t put their devices down, but many parents themselves are unable to put the phone down. (Joyce). So how can parents tell their children to stop using their phone if they are becoming the first? Parents should follow some simple tips to limit the effect of internet addiction.

One problem that internet addiction is causing, is called bedtime texting "rampant" among teens, and found it is most prevalent in older teen girls. Its consists in teens losing sleep after their devices, probably looking at their social medias. this is starting to influence with schools, by not concentrating in class and causing people to get lower grades. A simple tip to solve this is to try to control your children's bedtime.

Another common problem with internet addiction is the bad grades at school. In fact  a new study from Seton Hall University indicated that 61% of the teenagers feel their usage of internet impacted their schoolwork. (Mazzola) This is caused mainly because teens are getting distracted by their phones, televisions and such things during the time they should concentrate on their homework. Another simple tip is to limit their access on social platforms during study time.

The last problem I’m going to talk about, and probably the one that concerns me the most, is the fact that nowadays people and not only teenagers are struggling to have face-to-face conversations, and they are starting to close themselves into their “world” because of social platforms. In fact the 77% of teens get distracted by devices and don’t pay attention when they are together (Joyce). And studies also showed that the internet addiction makes it difficult to have face-to-face conversations and learn to be empathetic (Joyce).