The Various Viewpoints and Positions about Families Real Life and Internet Virtues - Research Paper Example

Families and the Internet In today’s world, internet is the most used source of information. It hasbecome an efficient means of communication due to the huge amount of chat rooms and websites that are tremendously increasing every day (Turow & Andrea 294). The lives of the internet users are changing both negatively and positively, ranging from parents, young people, and children. The most impacted part of life of most families is their social and school life. Frequent use of the internet has influenced the lives of many individuals who now exist in the internet virtue world rather than the real world. The controversy on whether the internet impact is exactly positive or negative in family lives is still on debate, and no clear answer has come up yet. This paper will analyze the various viewpoints and positions held about families’ real life and internet virtues. Introduction Technology emerged weirdly back in 1884, in Washington, when telegrams were produced to assist in sending messages from one location to the other (Giovanni 3). Later on, in 1969 in California Los Angeles, the first attempt to send messages through the computer was invented when a professor and one of his students set up a phone line connection between two computers. One computer was located at the University of California Los Angeles, and the other one at Stanford Research Institute. These two individuals were experimenting whether a computer could send a message from one computer to the other. Their intention was to send a command line with the word ‘login’, but the computer managed to send the command ‘lo’ and crashed immediately. That is how ‘Hallo’ became communication trend to date. After the incident, another experimental computer network cropped up approximately in 1970, with an intention to connect four American University Research centers. From then on, more experiments arose, and the systems evolved gradually to what is today’s internet (Giovanni 5). Currently, the internet is being is the most favorite trend of communicating used by billions of people worldwide, for different activities. Analysis Information and communication technologies (ICT) are tremendously contributing to economic growth, relieving workloads in work places, simplifying education and improving people’s daily leisure. Originally, this ICT as a sector was marked by criticism and unending debates of how and when it should be used. This was as a result of the negative effects that was attributed to ICT especially tot eh growing generation. For instance, children in the most developed countries in the world spend most of their time working and playing with computers of different forms. In the UK for instance, most homes have access to computers and the rate is rapidly growing (Voogt & Gerald 358). Statistics show that approximately eight million households had access to computers by the end of 2000. However, such statistics seem to cultivate much on technology accessibility rather than the influence that these devices bring about. This is because understanding technology is not how many people has access to it, or how much people uses the internet but the controversial factors that emerges after using the internet. To begin with, it is essential to bring back the pictures of the family lives before the internet took the center stage. Most families in the past strictly followed the rule of traditional virtues where family bonding was the most crucial factor to consider. For instance, such families’ weekends were exceptional because families spent their time together at home or went outdoors together. Meals were shared together, and most of the time would be spent together watching TV or doing outdoor activities like shopping. Things have changed in the present days. Families no longer share light moments together. In essence, the internet has become the best companion for many people thus family bondage has been weakened. In contrary, today’s families have an obsession for technology. The whole family starting from the parents to the children has access to the internet, which has become part of their life (Turow & Andrea 294). The weekends of these modern families are spent separately from each other. For instance, when they get up in the morning the best companion they desire is the computers and the phones whereby they surf almost the whole day. Sharing meals become impossible and each member grabs a snack or the parents’ orders for home delivery food through the internet. More so, these families surf in their own bedrooms because each of them has their own devices, and verbal communication within the family becomes rare hence; Internet becomes the communication trend to communicate to each other (Livingstone & Bovill 6). In addition, no outdoor activities are attended physically because these individuals participate in the virtue online activities. Many families have changed the neighborhood phenomenon because they no longer consider their neighbors as the people who live close to them but the people they are related to online. These families tend to use the internet as a blanket to cover up the reality that exists between a person next door and a person available online (Giovanni 7). More so, the meaning of the name home is changing rapidly because most families perform educational and community activities online. For instance, such families would prefer the children to learn about wild animals online rather than taking them to a real zoo. Additionally other activities like shopping are gradually diminishing due to the existence of internet. The accessibility of shopping and payment services online has contributed to this factor. On another note, the internet can update the parents on what is new in terms of children's activities and shopping. The ball is on the parents’ side to outweigh the above controversial factors on whether to continue allowing their children to the online world or to expose them to real life experience. On another note, children today grow up in extremely different ways unlike in the past due to the existence in technology. However, research claims that this technology advancement could affect children innocent minds through sites such as pornographic if not monitored properly (Livingstone & Bovill 9). The parents should ensure that children access web pages that strictly belong to children. This may be a hard task for parents because new web pages are invented in daily basis and children are extremely curious individuals who will want to know what is new. Therefore, the parents have no other choice but to establish strict rules while online, or by spending time with the children while they are online. This will be effective because, the children will follow the rules given and will less likely come across such materials. Privacy is a necessary family virtue in raising children, but the internet seems to affect this privacy because any information about anyone and anything is accessible online. Children could also spill home privacy accidentally by filling out marketers’ online surveys, hence subsequent monitoring of children online web pages will be a necessity, and parents could shut off such contacts if possible (Roddel 114). The same case applies to adults who receive different support and understanding unlike the past generation due to technological advancement and modernization. Teenagers and young people are becoming curious and never get satisfied with the free information given online. They cultivate other measures of quenching their curiosity by downloading music and videos online due to the availability of such privileges. However, controversy arises when the reality of how much these people spend their time surfing instead of being out in the real world doing real things like playing real football or cycling. The internet has occupied social lives of this generation which is no longer involved in experiencing the real world (Livingstone 14). For instance, such young people play games online instead of playing the same games with others in the neighborhood. This is because online games have flexible rules and has no limits whereby one can play as much as he wants, unlike in the real games where the rules and regulations are real. According to research statistics, lack of physical activities has increased the percentage of obesity among this group of people. In another note, the internet is affecting the cultural virtues in children and the young people. The cultural virtues and knowledge is diminishing because the younger generations spend most of their lives communicating and relating to the internet virtue world (Livingstone 16). These young peoples’ online friends are obviously from diverse cultures, and with the intense curiosity they obsess, they will tend to cultivate more on foreign cultures. This curiosity will come about because the parents are so busy to teach and expose their children about their own culture, hence sending the children to discover other foreign culture, which might only remain in the brains and lack practice. On the other hand, the internet could help these young people discover their cultural roots, which the parents might know nothing about. The parents have the task of teaching their children as young as they should be about their own cultural virtues and practice them. This will be essential because foreign cultures shared by online friends will not have much effect on them. Additionally, school life has tremendously changed for this group of individuals who have a privilege to access simplified learning through computer and internet (Voogt & Gerald 359). Modern students are no longer interested in reading books. They prefer the internet because it is efficient and easy to use. Computers are used to work out school assignments and home works. Despite the advantages that computers are simplifying students’ learning, controversial debate arises when other authors claim that computers are contributing to laziness among the students and that excess use of internet diminishes the students’ social skills. Teachers also are caught up in the controversy because others are opposing students’ computer usage while others are proposing the idea. Conclusion In conclusion, I bet that the controversial debates will continue for an unknown period because the internet is useful and influential at the same time (Turow & Andrea 294). Despite the researches that have been carried out subsequently, advantages and disadvantages of internet in family lives scale the same results. The choice eventually remains with parents who will have to weigh between the benefit and the effects of internet in their homes as well as in their children’s lives. This is the only option because these parents cannot get rid of the internet since it has been embraced as part of their daily life. The families and society in general should embrace the internet reality and consider balancing between embracing real life experiences and the internet virtues. This is the only way these two aspects will balance family lives. Works cited Giovanni Navarria. Citizens go online: probing the political potential of the Internet Galaxy. Web. 30 March 2013. Livingstone Sonia., & Bovill M. Families and the internet: an observational study of children and young people's internet use. Web. 30 march 2013. Livingstone, Sonia M. Children and the Internet: Great Expectations, Challenging Realities. Cambridge: Polity, 2009. Print. Roddel, Victoria. Internet Safety Family Guide. La Belle, FL: Victoria Roddel, 2006. Print. Turow, Joseph, and Andrea L. Kavanaugh. The Wired Homestead: An Mit Press Sourcebook on the Internet and the Family. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2003. Print. Voogt, Joke, and Gerald A. Knezek. International Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education. New York: Springer, 2008. Internet resource. Read More