Internet both a curse and a boon for kids

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 02 May 2006 07:22

Your IT - Home IT

The internet can be a health hazard to our children but can also benefit their grades if we are to believe the results of a study published today in a professional journal of the American Psychological Association, Developmental Psychology.

Unmoderated chatrooms, with crude content and language, and websites devoted to self-injury were among the undesirable consequences of minors surfing the web, according to the three researchers at Cornell University who contributed to the study. On the other hand, children who went online more often scored higher in tests than those who used the net less often.

Among the more bizarre findings of the study is that there is a whole subculture of chat rooms and bulletin boards containing information on how to inflict self injury, such as cutting yourself. The team of researchers led by Dr Janis Whitlock found more than 400 such sites, some with thousands of members, frequented by a high prevalence of teenage girls.

One of the benefits identified by the researchers was that children from low income families who had previously had no web access tended to improve their reading and grades at school over an 18 month period after they were given access.