Adolescents and Cyberspace

Abstract

The Internet has a great deal of benefit in our lives. It is the window that opens onto the world and shows us everything that is happening around us. Although it is meant to help and support our needs, enrich our social lives and expand our civic connections, it has not been going so far in this way. A lot of research is showing that the heavy use of cyberspace is isolating people form the world around them. Knowing that adolescents are spending a great deal of their time in cyberspace, this article will examine the things they miss when they are left to grow up in it.

Leaving Adolescents Grow Up in Cyberspace

The question on whether leaving adolescents grow up in cyberspace is beneficial or not has long been controversial. When a lot agree that cyberspace has made their life easier, many others believe the opposite. Everything has side effects, which might have great impact on its user if not handled properly. It seems that adolescents, out of all other people, all missing a lot when their parents are letting them grow up in cyberspace.

Everything in this advanced world is possible these days, that's why we find students who study on the Internet in hybrid or online courses. Traditionally, learning has been assumed to take place in a classroom or face-to-face environment where the instructor and students are physically together, but not all students learn the same way and therefore the traditional approach is not ideal for all students (Young, 2007). This is true, but a lot of students are finding it difficult to cope with the new and modern way of learning, where the instructor lectures them online. Some students say:

-"Instructor feedback tend to be slow"

-"I didn't feel as part of the class"

-"You can't verbalize your thoughts and let others hear your ideas"

-"Too many technical problems"

-"Unreliable Internet connections from my Internet service provider"

-"You also lose the personal teacher student relationship"

-"No way to read body language"

-"With on-line classes, it is hard to be able to get the whole "personal" thing"

-"You don't get to see the professor or class members face-to-face"

-"It takes more time to e-mail or post a question on the discussion board and wait for a response" ("Students' Positive and Negative Experience in Hybrid and Online Classes", 2007, page).

Moreover, Irvine(2004) states: "Assignments are dispersed online.