All-Spy Blog » education

Teens’ internet activity statistics

All-Spy — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:49:17 +0000

The well known British television psychologist Tanya Byron has something very important to say about teenagers and internet usage. She says: Letting your kids use the web completely unsupervised is like opening your own door and saying ‘They don’t know how to cross the road but they’ll work it out’. Teenagers are increasingly being lured into the alluring world of the internet, where they are willingly revealing personal information to complete strangers, and are completely nonchalant about it. It was previously thought that teenagers were duped into revealing personal information by sexual predators posing as teenagers themselves. But recent studies have shown that in most cases, these teenagers are aware that they are creating online friendships with complete strangers, and chatting with adults more than double their age. In spite of knowing these things, they are blissfully ignorant of the dangers of the internet. In spite of constant parental monitoring, a number of teenagers are falling prey to online sexual predators, and are becoming victims of child abuse. With the advent and widespread usage of social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn and Orkut, teenagers have become more vulnerable to the dangers of the internet.

According to Pew Internet & American Life study, 74% of high school age children in the United States use the Internet regularly. By the time kids reach high school, they’re likely to know as much or more about the Internet than do their parents. Teens use the Internet for schoolwork, communication and social networking, finding and downloading music, playing games, and shopping for everything from clothing to electronics products. But although they know their way around the Internet, they may lack the judgment and emotional maturity to steer clear of trouble. Teens are, after all, children. And children are vulnerable.

The results of a recent survey have brought scary facts to the limelight: Many teens are unconcerned about the dangers of sharing personal info online. A majority of teens (58%) do not think posting photos or other personal info on social networking sites is unsafe. Nearly half of teens (47%) are not worried about others using their personal info in ways they do not want (although that represents a 10-percentage-point improvement over 2006). About half (49%) are unconcerned posting personal info online might negatively affect their future. A large majority of teens (71%) have established online profiles (including those on social networking sites such as MySpace, Friendster and Xanga), up from 61% in 2006. 69% of teens regularly receive personal messages online from people they do not know and most of them do not tell a trusted adult about it. Teens readily post personal information online. 64% post photos or videos of themselves, while more than half (58%) post info about where they live. Females are far more likely than male teens to post personal photos or videos of themselves (70% vs. 58%). Nearly one in 10 teens (8%) has posted his or her cell phone number online. Overall, 19% of teens report they have been harassed or bullied online, and the incidence of online harassment is higher (23%) among 16 and 17 year-olds. Girls are more likely to be harassed or bullied than boys (21% vs. 17%).

The only solution to this frightening problem seems to be proper vigilance, and controlled monitoring of teenager’s online activity. Professor Tanya Byron sums up best by saying “In the end, it’s down to the parents to protect their children, whether it’s online or on the street“.

The Positive Effects of Wii Video Games to Your Children

All-Spy — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:32:00 +0000

This is not always true that video games downplay the nature of childhood by bringing into exposure a lot of violent activities or a lack of physical activities in their lives. Some video games do tend to be right up the alley of being more hyperactive with action but then there are those positive effects brought through video games as well. There are those video games which bring more laziness and blocks in forming a child to develop social skills. Most video games tend to isolate the player, by hooking him or her onto the mesmerizing maze of the game and not bringing much advanced life skills to learn through these tactics.

But in case of Wii games, these are highly evolved and dense materials which also come with learning systems. When choosing these games your child is encouraged to do more activities on leaving the game. There are always fun ideas and experiments coming to play with these games and a child’s mind is always ready to embark on these new projects. The visual ideals are some of the great ways to bring fun learning of scientific, historical and literary materials.

A child speeds up its cognitive qualities and learns of new things through this way. Understanding these games can be real openings for the young mind and the child is consistently urged to bring new fun and incredible ways to bring to his or her daily activities. There are new activities that are encouraged every day through these new games, forms and activities. Such great materials don’t require supervisions to match what the child is really learning. Great study items and experimental games are always brought every now and then through Wii games. These bring advanced modes of learning and your child would be cut above from the usual rigors that the school teaches. Educational items are always presented in unique ways that bring out some of the best of qualities from the child. These are small changes that you would notice when your child shifts to Wii methods of learning.

Learning has no scope of being boring and even complicated maths or science becomes plain simple to your child. There are many options available when a child is exposed to the Wii patterns of games. If learning literature or history is something your child is having no joy with, there are always new series to experiment with when your child needs solid encouragement. Contrary to many other forms of video games these ones really open up new ideas and consciousness within your child. Since a child is always learning through the educational video games it is always better to choose these ones for your child’s further development than any other ordinary video games.

One can totally turn around the not-so positive effects of video games through the choices made through Wii games and see new and bright changes coming to the child’s day.

10 Reasons Why Programs Can’t Replace Parents

All-Spy — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:33:25 +0000

In the modern world children are interested in the life of their favorite heroes from certain cartoons, programs or TV shows. They are in love with their courage, self-confidence and the way of life. Some kids do prefer educational programs. Parents even think such programs are able to teach their children.

Anyway, there are some reasons why programs can’t replace parents. We are to define the most common of them.

Many parents are sure their son or daughter can learn new words better from the programs than from an everyday life. But researches have shown the opposite results. As children who learn new words with their parents are more likely to start talking earlier than those who acquire language skills from certain programs.
Parents are more likely to motivate their kids. This is something programs will never be able to perform.
When a child watches TV he has to understand everything by himself. Certain notions, activities, deeds could be unfamiliar for him. Parents can explain all the new things kids may be unaware of.
In this meaning the children’s upbringing could be controlled. You as a parent can follow your child’s thoughts and help him get acquainted with a new world.
Moreover, children are not able to talk with the heroes of TV programs. They have to think and then ask about something. There is no alive discussion as when dealing with programs. Heroes from TV and people your kids may admire lead monologues with the kids. But dialogues are particularly important for children of any age.
In case your son or daughter does not have many friends he or she has to watch certain games or play with computer. Anyway, nothing could be compared with playing with their mother or father without involving sitting in front of a computer or TV.
In most cases kids just waste their time. They do not get something useful, do not think and do not perform. This time they could spend with their parents.
Nowadays, there is a great number of films that popularize violence and sexual scenes. This will definitely influence a child’s understanding of the world and may lie heavily on their mind. Parents would be able to explain the same but in proper words.
Watching programs or films for a long time may lead to worsening of the eyesight.
And finally, there is no program that can give children love and care parents do. Remember that kids need parental care and attention even if they seem to be self-confident and independent. No matter what age your son or daughter is, he or she has to feel your love all the time.

It would be nice to find out your opinion regarding TV programs and how much time do you allow your child to watch them. What are the reasons why you child is spending more time watching TV than spending time with you and are you going to do something in this matter?

Virtual Learning: Its Actuality, Types and Benefits

All-Spy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:13:59 +0000

Virtual learning, aka elearning, has become very popular thanks to its flexibility and accessibility. It provides countless opportunities for those who are eager to learn whether they want to go for a college degree, a course, a PHD or masters degree or just enrolling in a program in order to raise knowledge or get certification.

According to the data available, minimum five million people are getting their higher education online. And this number is constantly growing. A wide majority of colleges and universities provide online courses for people who want to learn but can not attend the classes for some reason. There are also programs that assist in getting doctorate or associate degrees. Nowadays many businesses go for online training dealing with customer servicing in order to become successful. Online accreditation is now widely accepted.

Virtual learning is very beneficial. First of all, all classes take place in a virtual environment. Thus, you have your own pace and schedule. You study when you have time and computer access. All you need is to connect to the web and log in to the class. It is very convenient for teenagers, who spend most of their time at school and do not have much time.

What is also important is that the quality of online education is the same as in standard educational institutions. But the difference is that you are able to streamline the lessons and all the necessary information in a less stressful environment.

There are several options teenagers can benefit from.

First they can go for learning with a real instructor. In this case, they choose a course and have to stick to the rules and requirements of curriculum that depends on the instructor’s ideas. He also hands out the tasks and grades and defines the start and end of the course.

There is also a possibility to enroll in a course led by a course guide. He will give out learning materials and feedback to the students. The start and end points of the course are designated according to prearranged course guidelines.

Another option is independent learning. It means that a student selects a course and learns at his or her own pace and following self-made schedule. There is no pre-set start or end.

As you can see this is just another productive way how your children can use computer and Internet for educative purpose.