Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Many Internet safety and parenting experts suggest that parents prohibit their teens from social networking sites and other online spaces where predators may lurk. But we may do adolescents a disservice when we curtail their participation in these spaces, because the educational and psychosocial benefits of this type of communication can far outweigh the potential dangers. These benefits include developing cognitive skills that are consistent with those required in educational settings and perspective-taking skills that are necessary for citizenship in an increasingly multiracial society. Alternative strategies for keeping adolescents safe online should build on the increasing technological awareness and sophistication of teens themselves.

Keywords

Internet safety adolescent development identity education social networking computers

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Baumer, S. (2006). Informal learning and social development of American youth on YouTube. Retrieved November 24, 2006, from http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/node/49

Berson, I. , Berson, M. , & Ferron, J. (2002). Emerging risks of violence in the digital age: Lessons for educators from an online study of adolescent girls in the United States . Meridian: A Middle School Computer Technologies Journal , 5(2). Retrieved November 24, 2006, from http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/sum2002/cyberviolence

Bolgatz, J. (2005). Talking race in the classroom. New York: Teachers College Press .

Cassell, J. , & Cramer, M. (in press). Policing gender and technology: The case of girls online . In T. McPherson (Vol. Ed.), Innovative uses and unexpected outcomes (MacArthur Series on Digital Media and Learning). Chicago: The MacArthur Foundation .

Greenfield, P.M. , Gross, E.F. , Subrahmanyam, K. , Suzuki, L.K. , & Tynes, B. (2006). Teens on the Internet: Interpersonal connection, identity, and information. In R. Kraut (Ed.), Information technology at home (pp. 185-200). New York: Oxford University Press .

Kuhn, D. (1991). The skills of argument. Cambridge , UK: Cambridge University Press .

Ortiz, A. (2003). Adolescent brain development and legal culpability . Washington, DC: American Bar Association, Juvenile Justice Center .

Pollock, M. (2004). Colormute: Race talk dilemmas in an American school . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press .

Sowell, E.R. , Thompson, P.M. , Tessner, K.D. , & Toga, A.W. (2001). Mapping continued brain growth and gray matter density reduction in dorsal frontal cortex: Inverse relationships during postadolescent brain maturation . Journal of Neuroscience, 21(22), 8819-8829 .

10.

Subrahmanyam, K. , Greenfield, P. , Kraut, R. , & Gross, E. (2001). The impact of computer use on children's and adolescents' development . Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 22, 7-30 .

11.

Suzuki, L. , & Calzo, J. (2004). The search for peer advice in cyberspace: An examination of online teen bulletin boards about health and sexuality . Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 25, 685-698 .

12.

Tynes, B. (2006). Role-taking in online classrooms: What adolescents are learning about race and ethnicity on the Internet. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Internet Safety Gone Wild?

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References