Internet Addicts in Danger Essay -- Technology Computers Communication

Internet Addicts in Danger Internet chat rooms have become a devastating disadvantage to the social interaction and growth of people in the world. More and more of the world’s youth are becoming addicted to Internet chat rooms. Not only are Internet chat room relationships leading to impersonal contact of people hiding flaws behind anonymity, they are leading to the abduction of many underage individuals. In an article published in The Age, a magazine in Melbourne, Australia, Doctor Mubarak Rahamathulla has researched teenagers that have become "pathologically addicted" to Internet chat rooms. Rahamathulla argues that this addiction could damage their social skills as well as their ability to form intimate relationships. Rahamathulla says that "The young people who are introverts who are having difficulties establishing a rapport with others are going to go deeper into these kinds of forums to interact with others, that will further shrink their social network." In Rahamathulla’s research he found that while Internet chat rooms are not the ideal form of communication for most of these "addicted" teens, it is better than no interaction at all. The research revealed that these teens are lonely, usually unpopular and that chat rooms contribute to some teenagers fearing one on one situations. Internet chat rooms do not seem like they are targeting this specific demographic, when it is considered that there are chat rooms for basically every interest any human in the world could think of. So, if Internet chat rooms are not targeting lonely, unpopular teenagers, but those are for the most part the people becoming "addicted" to these chat rooms, are these chat rooms making the people who are interested in them addicted and lonely ... ...there is no immediate solution for the problem that is at hand. But it is a problem that needs to be addressed. Internet chat rooms are making the worlds youth into anti-social, lonely people. Internet chat rooms are enticing children to go out and meet much older people that they should not be associating with and no one is stopping them. Parents and Internet companies both need to make drastic changes for the benefit of the world’s youth. Works Cited Barr, Elizabeth "Face the Music". 17 January. 2003 BCT Reporter "Should there be tighter laws governing the Internet?". UK Newsweek Regional Press. 25 July. 2003 Bruce, Iain "Fishnet Stalking; from the erotic to the pornographic, sex on the Internet is booming". The Sunday Herald. 8 December. 2002 Nader, Carol "Introvert Internet Addicts and ‘Social Risk’". The Age. 2 October. 2003 Statistics