Today, the importance of technology makes many people prefer to scroll through the timeline rather than get a few hours of sleep. Teenagers who are deprived of controlling their free time or filtering information coming from social networks are especially susceptible to this. Absorbing all the information that the Internet introduces, teenagers tend to stop evaluating the acquired knowledge sensibly. This leads to a deterioration of mental state physical health and increases the risk of falling into the hands of fraudsters. Since the spread of the Internet provides easier access to extensive knowledge and carries hidden harm, research has been conducted to analyze the impact of the Internet on adolescents. These studies were aimed at identifying the dangers that teenagers face on the Internet, finding their causes and measures that can help overcome them. This paper examines some of the main effects of new technologies on adolescents and young people, including deterioration of the physical and mental condition, increased risk of becoming a victim of a fraudster, and the gradual loss of moral values in an entire generation.
The interest of young people in social networks has specific consequences in the form of mental and physical health problems. For example, sitting in a constantly uncomfortable posture while checking social networks leads to the deterioration of the neck and back, provoking chronic pain in these areas. Moreover, bright light contributes to the damage of vision and sleep disorders, such as lack of sleep or even insomnia. Online interactions affect a teen’s emotional state, which can never be restored when it comes to mental health. Adolescents have learned to interact with people while staying behind the curve, which disrupts communication abilities (Bibi et al. 480). This proves that when technology is used incorrectly, it harms comprehensively.
The use of social networks by young people also weakens the institution of moral education and disregard for moral values. Uncontrolled publications on the social network Instagram with a demonstration of tobacco or the smoking process lead to the popularization of smoking among teenagers. Another problem is the distribution of images with alcohol consumption in the same social network, which erases the boundaries of what is permissible for minors. In addition, the lack of filtering of images of aggression and cruelty also leads to an increase in the risks of immoral behavior among adolescents whose personality has not yet been fully formed (Krylova 498). Having a negative impact on teenagers’ vision of tobacco and alcohol, technologies, where not all information is filtered and suitable for children and adolescents, also harm moral values.
The growing popularity of technology among young people has also led to an increase in their involvement in the sex industry, leading to a rise in crime and the experience of traumatic experiences by adolescents. Viewing prohibited materials causes the appearance of curiosity, which means the risk of harmful sexual contact even with the right person is becoming possible. New technologies and poor awareness of teenagers have also led to an increased risk of sharing an intimate photo on the Internet with an unfamiliar person. The possibility of involving children in the porn industry is also greatly simplified, which sometimes happens by the voluntary consent of a teenager due to the influence of the availability of sexual content (Senadjki et al. 63). As a result, the number of sexual crimes, where the victims are teenagers, is increasing because of the lack of filtering information in social networks.
From all of the above, it follows that the Internet has a huge negative impact of unverified information on the still unformed personalities of teenagers. All this leads to the understanding that the quantity and quality of resources viewed by teenagers must be controlled. Moreover, it is worth raising awareness among young people about the dangers and risks that await them with excessive use of technology.