essay danger of using the internet

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How the internet can harm us, and what can we do about it?

The internet has received much negative news coverage in recent years.

Written by Gianluca Quaglio,

The internet has received much negative news coverage in recent years. Articles focus on major privacy scandals and security breaches, the proliferation of fake news, rampant harmful behaviours like cyber-bullying, cyber-theft, revenge porn, the exchange of child porn and internet predation, internet addiction, and the negative effects of the internet on social relations and social cohesion. Nevertheless, some 87 % of European households have internet access at home, and 65 % use mobile devices to access the internet. Europeans aged 16 to 24 years spend 168 minutes per day on mobile internet, dropping to 30 minutes for 55 to 64-year olds. Around 88 % of 15 to 24-year olds use social media, 80 % on a daily basis.

While the social and economic benefits of the internet cannot be denied, some of these developments can severely affect such European values as equality, respect for human rights and democracy. Technology companies are under increasing pressure to mitigate these harmful effects, and politicians and opinion leaders are advocating drastic measures.

The recently published STOA study on ‘Harmful internet use’ covers the damage associated with internet use on individuals’ health, wellbeing and functioning, and the impact on social structures and institutions. While the study does not attempt to cover all possible societal harm relating to the internet, Part I focuses on one specific cause of harm, internet addiction, and Part II covers a range of harmful effects on individuals and society that are associated with internet use. The report concludes with policy options for their prevention and mitigation.

Other studies have already extensively discussed some harmful effects, and these are already subject to a history of policy actions. These include harm to privacy, harm related to cybersecurity and cybercrime, and damage resulting from digital divides. In contrast, this study covers the less-studied but equally important harmful effects that concern individuals’ health, wellbeing and functioning, the quality of social structures and institutions, and equality and social inclusion.

Internet addiction and problematic internet use                             

Internet addiction and problematic internet use prevalence rates vary across studies and countries. The noteworthy discrepancy in prevalence estimates has a number of causes, including the different populations studied, as well as the various diagnostic tools and assessment criteria utilised. With this in mind, it appears that roughly 4 % of European adolescents demonstrate a pathological use of the internet that affects their life and health, while 13 % of adolescents engage in maladaptive behaviour when using the internet. Similar numbers are reported for adults.

Part I of the study focuses on generalised internet addiction, online gaming addiction, and online gambling addiction. Clinical presentations, patient profiling, comorbidities, instruments, interventions, and prognoses are different across these three potential addiction disorders. The study states that the individual, cultural and media-use context significantly contributes to the experience and severity of internet addiction.

The study proposes a set of preventive actions, and evidence to support future policies . It states that offering information, screening tools and campaigns to students in secondary schools and at universities regarding internet-use-related addiction problems can help, especially regarding gaming addiction in adolescent populations. This will require allocating research and resources for schools and their staff, and for families, as well as the establishment of working relationships with health professionals and services.

Harmful social and cultural effects associated with internet use

Part II of the study identifies a number of different harmful social and cultural effects associated with internet use. The evidence points to the occurrence of significant damage to both individuals and society. Some of these harmful effects are described briefly below:

Information overload: Having too much information to be able to adequately understand an issue or make effective decisions. Information overload is associated with loss of control, feelings of being overwhelmed, reduced intellectual performance, and diminished job satisfaction. Studies show that information overload affects up to 20-30% of people.

Damage to social relationships: Extensive internet use, of social media in particular, is correlated with loneliness and social isolation. Intimate relationships can be degraded by internet use, particularly due to viewing online pornography. Malicious online behaviour, particularly cyber-bullying, cyber-stalking and online predation, affects a significant percentage of internet users.

Impaired public/private boundaries: The way in which the internet and smartphones blur the distinction between private and public, and between different spheres of life, including work, home life and leisure, harms the boundaries between people’s public and private lives. Harmful effects that can result from such permeations include loss of quality of life, lack of privacy, decreased safety and security, and harm to social relations – when friends and family members feel they are left behind by new technology.

Harmful effects on cognitive development: Empirical evidence suggests that internet use can have both positive and negative impacts on cognitive development, depending on the person and the circumstances. There is evidence that children’s cognitive development can be damaged by prolonged internet use, including the development of memory skills, attention span, abilities for critical reasoning, language acquisition, reading, and learning abilities. More research is however needed to draw more reliable conclusions.

Damage to communities: Many off-line communities suffer through the partial migration of human activities – shopping, commerce, socialising, leisure activities, professional interactions – to the internet. Online communities sometimes extend off-line communities and sometimes replace them. They are often inadequate replacements, however, as they do not possess some of the valuable or the strongest qualities of off-line communities, and communities may consequently suffer from impoverished communication, incivility, and a lack of trust and commitment.

The study identifies a number of broad policy options for preventing and mitigating these harmful effects. They include, among other things:

• promoting technology that better protects social institutions, stimulating or requiring tech companies to introduce products and services that better protect social institutions and internet users;
• education about the internet and its consequences;
• stronger social services support for internet users: this policy option involves strengthening social services dedicated to internet users to prevent or mitigate harmful effects such as internet addition, antisocial online behaviour or information overload;
• incentivising or requiring employers to develop policies that protect workers against harmful effects of work-related internet use, such as information overload and the blurring of lines between public and private life;
• establishing governmental units and multi-stakeholder platforms at EU level,to address the problems of the internet’s harmful social and cultural effects.

Problematic use of the internet (PUI) research network

Finally, in relation to internet-caused damage, it is worth mentioning the recent article published by the European Science-Media Hub (ESMH) on the European Problematic Use of Internet (PUI) research network. The project, funded by the European Commission, gathers over 120 psychologists, psychiatrists and neuroscientists, with the objective of reaching a better definition of diagnostic criteria, the role of genetics and personality traits, and the brain-based mechanisms behind internet related disorders.

Scientific Foresight (STOA)

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This is good

I agree with the article, because although the internet helps us to many things such as allowing us to stay connected with family, friends and provides us access to a lot of information, although this may be too much and some of it is not correct. And as the article says it is worrying how this has become an addiction and causes us cognitive problems and problems in our relationships, because we do not know or do not occupy it with a correct use and do not put certain limits, plus we can suffer from cyberbullying, etc., plus then the comments we make some people do it with bad intentions and to hurt others.

All the information seems too precise to me and the truth is I had never thought about all that, the use of the Internet is increasingly sophisticated and many people are not aware of the damage they can cause and generate to themselves, the Internet helps us of course, but we are not prepared because we do not take into account the harm it can do to others if we use it in the wrong way and even worse to ourselves if we do not use it in a good way.

The Internet is a tool that can help or affect society just as all tools currently in society do. The issue that really worries me is the addition to the Internet since everything in excess is harmful to health and integrity as a person, the technology helps electronic commerce as we are experiencing it today, a benefit to society is the medical advances with which I agree, previously I only did my homework in libraries but now I do my homework from my phone. Yes. The internet is addictive.

I agree that the Internet is a great tool, but misuse can have immense consequences, especially for current and future generations. Although it offers immense benefits in terms of global communication, transportation, information gathering, education, e-commerce, etc., its prolonged use can have a negative impact on cognitive development, attention span and critical thinking, since on the net we can find a lot of people who incite bad practices such as cyber-bullying, cyber-harassment, pornography, etc. So it is a great tool and it is necessary to be at the forefront, but being aware of how far it is OK to go and without forgetting the wonders that the world can offer us.

It is true that the Internet has been the subject of much negative coverage in recent years. However, it is important to remember that it has also brought many benefits to society, such as facilitating communication, access to information and connection between people around the world. As with any tool, it is important to use the Internet responsibly and consciously to make the most of its advantages. In the same way it can also have negative effects on society and culture and we should put more importance on misinformation, cyber bullying, social media addiction and loss of privacy which are just some of the problems associated with excessive and irresponsible use of the Internet. It is important to be aware of these risks and take steps to protect our safety and well-being while enjoying the advantages that technology offers us.

I agree with the article.

The Internet has been one of the most important discoveries in history, as it allows us to have at our disposal a large amount of information and tools that help us remember things or do them for us, distract ourselves, learn a topic or language, etc.

However, there must be a limit on the time we spend online because if we are exposed to the internet for a long time, we can suffer serious consequences. Also from time to time ask ourselves: what are we seeing on the internet? and check that we are actually doing something productive with that time spent.

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Negative Impact of Internet on Society Essay

Introduction, thesis statement about internet, literature review, works cited.

Today it is eminent that the role of computers has a huge impact on every person. Computerization has taken over the majority of the societal roles and has dramatically improved lives. The battle with technology is dynamic and a continuous process expected to bring about new challenges each day.

This primary influence comes from Internet usage, which seems to be very vibrant, particularly among the youth, due to the stable and anticipated creativity. That’s why the author will explore the negative impact of the Internet on society in the essay.

Society is dependent on technology today. Having computers in the workplace, homes, and mobility enable effectiveness and efficiency. Today’s technology has advanced to a point where there is massive support for security intelligence. The Internet, therefore, enables resourceful communication and sharing of any form of information, whether it is useful or abusive.

“The Internet technology is affecting an individual’s life in a negative way.” This paper examines the real situational effects of internet technology on users and forms an analysis of how the Internet can cause depression. This negative effects of the Internet essay also focuses on the intellectual behavior of people regarding effects and other cyber-related crimes.

Effects of Internet usage on the brain and behavioral development

One prominent impact of internet technology is the creation of a democratic media. The broadcast is international and free.

According to McDonnell (p.1) the highly recognized sites that allow a personal view makes the aspect of internet publishing easy and accessible to the majority without the need for technical knowledge. Internet tools in the majority of the search engines such as Google promote democratic media and form a basis for other macro-media such as weblogs, videocasts, wikis and podcasts.

The universal knowledge behind these tools is to enhance knowledge transmission by allowing direct and literal subscription and automatic collection of text, audio or visual data. Internet is thus a good source of peer pressure, particularly among the youth.

Through internet usage, people are putting up with negative information and giving up personal trust and values, and such pressure becomes a form of a negative force. In most cases, it would be invariable to have a link between the development of the brain and the behaviors. The Internet provides high emotional or intense influences, thus leading to a poor decision such as crime related activities.

The brain of a teenager is under some less optimal control mechanisms and thus under higher probability to act from guts or instincts in submitting to internet posting that relates to criminal activities, especially when confronted with stressful, depressing or emotional strains.

Internet users are hastier, insistent, emotionally volatile, high-risk takers, proactive and reactive to strain or stress and are thus at risk of peer influences (McDonnell, p.1). They focus on the short time payoffs, underrate any long-term consequences, and are therefore prone to looking for an alternative course of actions such as cyber crimes.

Psychological Effects of Internet on Young People

Young people are often curious; therefore, their time on the internet is the time of experimenting and seeking newness. The adolescent brain may be more vulnerable to social discomforts due to internet addiction. These social effects can bring about potential social experiences, such as contributing to the feeling of less shyness, more interaction, ability to hack others’ information and discover more from the internet. Some of the unrestricted information on the internet also causes negative behaviors.

Phonographic material causes negative anxiety and inability to make decisions makes them feel the need to explore their sexuality and deal with different emotions concern with uncertain and impulsive activities since human beings have to make decisions based on the challenge at hand.

There are many different reasons why people use the internet, probably to relax, have fun, find rest, forget problems, and mostly to meet friends. The youth mainly engage in internet activities because they easily find their styles. They suffer from external or internal anxieties while trying to be like others. Internet usage is fine as long as it serves the role of determining the right character in a person.

The social interaction on the internet is arguably one of the reasons why American teenagers mimic the same lifestyles and have similar talking style. People in a group network act differently and do some weird activities they would probably not do on their own. This is the identity of a group as opposed to that of an individual. The control placed on these behaviors can easily crumple before the achievement of a valued need.

One of the huge challenges of internet usage among children and teenagers is increased maturity and changes in the lifestyle that easily leads to criminal activities or conflicts. If not controlled, internet usage leads to addiction or continual usage thus a trend that causes solitary usage and depression. In most instances, when solitary use occurs, then the addict has more significant future problems related to chronic addiction and isolation from the rest or even communication problems that may lead to mental-related complications (Kelland, p.1).

If not controlled, internet usage leads to addiction. This form of usage thus causes friendlessness and depression. In most instances, when solitary occurs, then the internet addict has more significant future problems related to other kinds of chronic addictions and communication problems that may lead to mental-related complications.

According to Glor, (p.1), addictive surfing can have a severe impact on mental health, “internet addicts” spent proportionately more time browsing sexually satisfying websites, online gaming sites, and online communities. They replace real-life social interaction with online chat rooms and social networking sites and this in time is replacing normal social function, which might have a link to psychological disorders like depression and addiction.

Cyberbullying is also becoming a common trend where we find rude comments and insulting words that one would never use in person. The police explorations of whether cyber intimidation was the root cause of teenage suicide in the New York town of West Islip, is a clear indication of how internet addiction is contributing to depression. That Soccer star Alexis Pilkington, 17, took her own life on March 21, 2010, following social disturbances from social networking sites (Glor, p.1).

Analysis of Internet addiction as a psychological illness

According to Citizen (p.1), when someone is, using the internet, it is possible to suffer from several illnesses or addicted. The illness or condition depends on what you are doing and how long you will be online. When used to cyber cafe visits to read e-mail, one is tempted to take more time to excessive gaming, chatting and text messaging.

This can lead to brain illness because people often neglect essential livelihood requirement such as sleep or food due to internet addiction, they suffering but consciously assume it is a healthy lifestyle. This chronic illness can smoothly go unnoticed unless a therapist intercedes (Citizen, p.1).

The most affected people are those who are educated but socially shy. In line with Citizen (p.1), they are mostly the middle age women. They use computers as an escape route from reality. A computer does affect people’s lives and cause emotional upsets to the person who wants to be pre-occupied online for a long time.

Effects of Internet on Lifestyles

“The Chinese government launched a national wide campaign after a survey found that 14 percent of their teens are vulnerable to becoming addicted to the internet” (Eunjung Cha, p.1). According to the government, they are trying to stamp out what the communist youth league calls “a grave social problem” (Eunjung Cha, p.1).

The state policies focus more on eliminating cybercrime, which seem to ruin lives for instance cases where causes of assassination have a connection to mimicked characters in online entertainments. The internet is equally forming a sequence of suicide-related cases and poor studies, especially among the youth.

Depression and suicidal thoughts are higher among the students deemed “internet-addicts” (Eunjung Cha, p.1). According to self-report questionnaires, gender is not a differential factor. Internet addiction was likely to affect males, as well as females and cause children-major depression disorder.

Eunjung Cha, (p.1) indicated that users are becoming addicted to the internet similarly that individuals become addicted to drugs or alcohol. This internet addiction finally leads to academic, social and occupational impairments. According to Eunjung Cha, (p.1), individuals on chat rooms may use tactics, such as peer pressure to arouse feelings and thus course them to commit suicide.

Effects of internet on schools

Today, digital technology has become completely part of the youth’s life. It has fully incorporated all the social characteristics in their lives. Many students pick up new styles of learning, communicating with new people and formulating creativity. The behaviors are like permanent fixtures into their reasoning styles and operating procedures.

It is common to find a situation where children use knowledge-gathering techniques that appear alien to adults, mainly their parents and teachers. In relation to Lane (p.1), such advancements have severe impacts on the education platform.

People have established ways of harnessing the technological aspects into career settings for decades but failed to implement security and ways of limiting information access. There is some resistance on usage, but implementation is a good indication that educators appreciate the effectiveness and importance of technology.

According to McDonnell (p.1), the education sector is the most affected by internet usage; students can gather techniques of hacking networks and finding illegal ways of accessing information. This is arguably the reason why institutions are also not enthusiastic enough to embrace full technological platforms such as digital networks and incorporation of social networks to education systems. They focus on security matters due to potential threats posed by social network technologies.

Current social settings can give the impression that internet usage is under control, but a closer look at the phenomenon indicates that every day a person starts to use and subsequently becomes addicted to the negative aspects available in the net.

Possibly the pressure to resist deception is tremendous and persistent unless there is an intervention, especially by the authorities such as parents when the person involved, is a minor. Sometimes failure to control internet access is due to the current social setting for instance; most of the parents are full-time employees probably looking for the overtime and better remuneration in support of the family.

They may be trying to work out one area while the other collapses. The biggest problem in the majority of the minds lies on the reason why people especially the youth are misusing the internet. The most likely answer is within the family setting. They emulate their parents who are their closest role models.

They embrace the social settings and meet friends who deceive them into engaging in social mischiefs such as pornography, online gambling, and information-hacking activities. They may also suffer from solitary use due to stress. Whichever the case, parents are the most effective cure to the vice. It is the parental responsibility to face the problem and talk out with the teenagers on the dangers involved before things are out of hand.

Citizen, Ottawa. “ Recognize Internet addiction as a mental illness, MD urges that compulsive e-mailing and text messaging could soon become classified as an official brain illness. ” Canada: CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc .2008. Web.

Eunjung Cha, Ariana. “ In China, Stern Treatment For Young Internet ‘Addicts’ .”

Washington, WA: The Washington Post Foreign Service. 2007. Web.

Glor, Jeff. “ Cyberbullying Continued After Teen’s Death. ” New York, NY: CBS Interactive Inc. March 29, 2010. Web.

Kelland, Kate. “ Study links excessive Internet use to depression. ” London, UK: Lane, Reuters Inc. Feb 3, 2010. Web.

Lane, Christopher. “ Side Effects From quirky to serious, trends in psychology and psychiatry .” New York, NY: Sussex Publishers, LLC. 2009. Web.

McDonnell, Dean. “ How does the internet affect the way we mentally behave? ” Hubpages Inc. (n.d.) Web.

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September 18, 2023

Here’s How to Actually Keep Kids and Teens Safe Online

Controversial policy proposals such as the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) are making headway across the country, but there are other ways to help protect young people in the digital world

By Lauren Leffer

fotostorm/Getty Images

The Internet can be a risky place. There are endless feeds filled with posts that contain graphic sexual and violent content, glamorize eating disorders, encourage self-harm or promote discriminatory and offensive diatribes. People often share too much personal information with a too-public audience that includes cyberbullies and strangers with ill intent. And they also risk losing time: by spending hours online, they might miss out on experiences and growth opportunities that can be found elsewhere. These problems are particularly acute for children and teenagers, and new laws that attempt to protect youth from the Internet’s negative effects have their own serious downsides. Scientific American spoke with experts about the best evidence-backed ways to actually keep kids safe online.

Young people spend a huge chunk of their lives on the Internet. For most teens in the U.S., the bulk of their waking hours play out in front of network-connected screens, according to surveys from the nonprofit organization Common Sense and from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry . Kids younger than age 13 aren’t that far behind; they spend upward of five hours online daily.

Though the exact impacts of online activity aren’t yet well understood , it’s clear that what happens on the Internet does matter for young people’s well-being. “I don’t know that we can say ‘cause and effect’ at this point,” says Mary Alvord, a practicing psychologist who specializes in treating children and adolescents and is an adjunct associate professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine. “But we can make correlational statements,” she adds, noting that excessive time spent on social media has been associated with poor mental health among kids and teens.

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Both the U.S. Surgeon General and the American Psychological Association issued health advisories earlier this year about potential harms of online social media to youth. Each advisory is clear: online activity carries benefits and risks, and more work is needed to understand and mitigate the downsides.

In recent months lawmakers have introduced and enacted policies ostensibly aimed at doing just that. Multiple states have imposed age restrictions for certain types of online content. At the national level, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) has advanced out of a Senate committee and awaits consideration on the legislative floor. But experts are divided on whether age-restriction efforts and sweeping policies such as KOSA are set to help young people or harm them.

Proponents of KOSA, including the American Psychological Association, say that the legislation could be a positive first step toward holding tech companies accountable for their impact. Conversely, critics such as the American Civil Liberties Union fear that some of its provisions will reduce online freedoms, restrict access to information and penalize vulnerable populations such as LGBTQ+ youth by leaving the moderation and definition of harmful content up to state officials, who may have their own political agendas. Earlier this month one co-sponsor of the bill, Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, appeared to imply that in her state, KOSA would be used to block minors from accessing information about transgender issues. Jamie Susskind, Senator Blackburn’s legislative director, has denied the senator was making any claims about using KOSA to censor trans content. “KOSA will not—nor was it designed to—target or censor any individual or community,” Susskind posted on X (formerly Twitter).*

But these controversial policies aren’t the only way to promote online safety. Other legislative actions that are less focused on censorship, along with clear content guidelines and better social media design, could help. Plus, digital safety researchers and psychologists agree that getting families, schools and young people themselves involved would make a big difference in keeping kids safe.

Digital privacy legislation is one alternate policy path that might shift the online landscape for the better. “If people’s data is treated with respect in ways that are transparent and accountable, actually, it turns out a whole set of safety risks get mitigated,” says social psychologist Sonia Livingstone, who researches children and online media at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

A comprehensive data privacy bill could require social media companies to disclose when user data are being collected and sold—and to obtain consent first. This would help users make better choices for themselves, Livingstone says. Limiting the data that tech platforms amass and profit from could also help block the proliferation of algorithms that emphasize increasingly extreme content in order to hold social media users’ attention. Additionally, privacy legislation could ideally enable users to request the removal of content or data they no longer want online—potentially protecting kids (and everyone else) from their own short-term choices, Alvord says.

Beyond privacy, national guidelines for social media sites could help. Livingstone and Alvord suggest that a content rating system like those used for movies, TV shows and video games might help young people avoid inappropriate content—and allow families to set firmer boundaries. Design features that let users block others and limit the audience for specific posts allow kids and teens to take the reins of their own safety—which is critical, says Pamela Wisniewski, a Vanderbilt University computer scientist, who studies human-computer interaction and adolescent online safety.

Parental controls can be appropriate for younger kids, but teens need the chance to exercise autonomy online, Wisniewski says. Such freedom lets them engage in some of the Internet’s positive aspects: civic engagement opportunities, community and educational resources, identity exploration and connections beyond one’s own social bubble. To ensure these benefits are accessible to all, youth should be directly involved formulating regulations and safety strategies, Wisniewski adds. As part of her research, she holds workshops with teens to involve them in co-designing online safety interventions. Though this program, called Teenovate, is in the early stages, some ideas have already emerged from it. Among them: social platforms could provide “nudges” that would ask users to think twice before sharing personal data and prompt would-be bad actors to reconsider personal requests or bullying behavior.

Education is another important way to reach young people. They may be digital natives, but there’s a lot for them to learn about engaging with the Internet safely. “You ask young people what they would like to learn about in school; they would love better digital literacy,” Livingstone says. “They’d love to be taught about data ecology. They’d love to understand how algorithms work.” And existing coursework should adapt to include discussions of online issues, Wisniewski adds. For instance, sex education classes could add modules about dealing with sexual solicitation online or learning safer ways to “sext.” Studies suggest that sexting, or sharing intimate information via digital devices, is practiced by 25 percent to 35 percent of teenagers.

Engaging with the ways youth use the Internet instead of dismissing them is key to improving young people’s experience—at their schools, in their families and under policies that affect them. Kids and teens are often better versed in the latest apps and platforms than their parents are. This dynamic can breed misunderstanding and judgment, and it can make open conversations about online struggles difficult, says psychologist Mitch Prinstein, who studies technology and adolescent development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “We’ve inadvertently communicated to our kids that we don’t understand or care and [that] we’re not going to be empathic or interested in talking about their online experiences,” Prinstein explains. “What we should be doing is just the opposite: saying, ‘This seems really important, and you’re spending a lot of time on it.’”

From that place of openness and curiosity, caregivers are much better positioned to help kids and teens develop resilience and healthier online habits. The online world “isn’t good or bad,” Alvord says. “It’s what we make of it, how we use it, how much we use it.” Accepting that “it’s here to stay,” she says, is the first step toward finding real and meaningful safety solutions.

*Editor’s Note (9/18/23): This paragraph was updated after posting to include a comment made on social media by Jamie Susskind, Senator Marsha Blackburn’s legislative director.

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Science News Explores

Internet use may harm teen health.

Scientists find that heavy Internet use puts teens at risk of high blood pressure

Teens who spend more than two hours a day on the Internet are at much higher risk of high blood pressure than are low-Internet users.

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By Alison Pearce Stevens

October 22, 2015 at 6:15 am

Connecting with other teens online may be fun. But spending too much time on the Internet could lead to health problems, a new study reports. Heavy Internet use appears able to put teens at serious risk of high blood pressure, it finds.

As the term suggests, high blood pressure exerts extra outward pressure on vessel walls. With exercise, blood pressure increases. At rest, that pressure should return to a relatively low, background level. But in some people, it remains relatively elevated, even at rest.

High blood pressure in children and teens often continues into adulthood, says Andrea Cassidy-Bushrow, who led the new study. That’s a problem, she says. Persistent high blood pressure can trigger serious health problems, from kidney disease and memory loss to eye damage and heart disease or stroke.

Cassidy-Bushrow works at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Mich. As an epidemiologist, she investigates causes of illness.

Explainer: What is anxiety?

What might make Internet use more dangerous? It isn’t passive, like watching TV, Cassidy-Bushrow explains. There’s also the growing risk of cyberbullying, which can make it more stressful than other types of screen time.

What’s more, Internet connections are available in 98 percent of U.S. public schools. With cell phones and other mobile devices, the Internet can be as close as the touch of a button for most tweens and teens. And it’s available around the clock. Frequent Internet use has been linked to anxiety, addiction and social isolation. All of these are associated with high blood pressure in adults.

So the researchers recruited 331 adolescents, aged 14 to 17, to study whether Internet use might influence blood pressure in teens.

In the lab, the scientists measured each teen’s blood pressure, height and weight. They used some of these data to calculate each teen’s body mass index , or BMI. BMI is one way to look at whether somebody is over- or underweight. The teens also answered questions about how much time they spend on the Internet. This included both the number of hours per day as well as the number of days per week.

Nearly all of the teens had used the Internet during the week before their lab visit. Most reported accessing the Internet both at home and at school. Most also reported moderate to heavy Internet use. The researchers defined heavy use as two or more hours each and every day. Moderate use involved less than two hours a day on five to seven days a week. Light users accessed the internet for less than two hours a day and on no more than four days a week.

Four out of 10 teens used the Internet more than two hours every day. Nineteen percent of these heavy users had high blood pressure. That’s compared to just seven percent of light users. Another four in ten teens reported moderate use. These teens had moderately high blood pressure.

The findings appear in the October 2015 Journal of School Nursing.

“It’s an interesting study,” says Ellen Wartella. She is a psychologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. But, she points out, the study has a major limitation: The researchers measured blood pressure only once for each teen. However, she notes, “We know it varies considerably.” So a single data point for each person may not accurately reflect a teen’s average daily blood pressure.

Cassidy-Bushrow agrees that more research needs to be done. However, she adds, single blood-pressure readings have been used in other studies. For now, she recommends that school nurses screen students for high blood pressure and moderate to heavy Internet use.

Education and training for teens, teachers and parents also could help ensure that teens find a healthy balance in their online life, she says. That could go a long way in helping protect the health of people growing up in this digital age.

Power Words

(for more about power words, click here ).

addiction  The uncontrolled use of a habit-forming drug or uncontrolled and unhealthy habit (such as video game playing or phone texting). It results from an illness triggered by brain changes that occur after using some drugs or engaging in some extremely pleasurable activities. People with an addiction will feel a compelling need to use a drug (which can be alcohol, the nicotine in tobacco, a prescription drug or an illegal chemical such as cocaine or heroin), even when the user knows that doing so risks severe health or legal consequences.

adolescence     A transitional stage of physical and psychological development that begins at the onset of puberty, typically between the ages of 11 and 13, and ends with adulthood.

anxiety   A nervous disorder causing excessive uneasiness and apprehension. People with anxiety may even develop panic attacks.

behavior   The way a person or other organism acts towards others, or conducts itself.

body mass index   ( BMI ) A person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. BMI can be used to measure if someone is overweight or obese. However, because BMI does not account for how much muscle or fat a person has, it is not an accurate measure.

bullying   (v. to bully) A group of repeated behaviors that are mean-spirited. They can include teasing, spreading rumors about someone, saying hurtful things to someone and intentionally leaving someone out of groups or activities. Sometimes bullying can include attacks using violence (such as hitting), threats of violence, yelling at someone or abusing someone with violent language. Much bullying takes place in person. But it also may occur online, through emails or via text messages. Newer examples including making fake profiles of people on websites or posting embarrassing photos or videos on social media.

cyber   A prefix that refers to computers or to a type of system in which computerized or online communication occurs.

depression   A mental illness characterized by persistent sadness and apathy. Although these feelings can be triggered by events, such as the death of a loved one or the move to a new city, that isn’t typically considered an “illness” — unless the symptoms are prolonged and harm an individual’s ability to perform normal daily tasks (such as working, sleeping or interacting with others). People suffering from depression often feel they lack the energy needed to get anything done. They may have difficulty concentrating on things or showing an interest in normal events. Many times, these feelings seem to be triggered by nothing; they can appear out of nowhere.

digital age   A term used to describe the modern era with widespread use of computers and reliance on computing.

epidemiologist  Like health detectives, these researchers figure out what causes a particular illness and how to limit its spread.

high blood pressure  The common term for a medical condition known as hypertension. It puts a strain on blood vessels and the heart.

obesity   Extreme overweight. Obesity is associated with a wide range of health problems, including type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

psychology  The study of the human mind, especially in relation to actions and behavior. Scientists and mental-health professionals who work in this field are known as psychologists.

social   (adj.) Relating to gatherings of people; a term for animals (or people) that prefer to exist in groups. (noun) A gathering of people, for instance those who belong to a club or other organization, for the purpose of enjoying each other’s company.

sodium   A basic building block of table salt (a molecule of which consists of one atom of sodium and one atom of chlorine: NaCl).

tween    A child just approaching his or her teenage years. Tween is a term usually used for 11- to 12-years olds. 

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Internet Safety  - Introduction to Internet Safety

Internet safety  -, introduction to internet safety, internet safety introduction to internet safety.

Internet Safety: Introduction to Internet Safety

Lesson 1: introduction to internet safety, introduction to internet safety.

There's almost no limit to what you can do online. The Internet makes it possible to access information quickly, communicate around the world, and much more. Unfortunately, the Internet is also home to certain risks , such as malware , spam , and phishing . If you want to stay safe online, you'll need to understand these risks and learn how to avoid them.

Adopting a safer mindset

Computers can often give us a false sense of security . After all, no one can physically harm you through a computer screen. But to stay safe online, you'll want to take a more cautious approach. Here's one way to think about it: Treat the Internet as you would a shopping mall .

Most people don't consider a mall to be an especially dangerous place. You can go there to shop and meet up with friends. But there are also small things you may do to stay safe, even if you don't think about them very often. For example, you probably wouldn't leave your car unlocked or give your credit card number to a stranger.

Apply this same mindset whenever you're online. You shouldn't be afraid to use the Internet, but remember that it comes with many of the same risks you'd face in the real world. Throughout this tutorial, we'll show you how to prepare for these risks so you can be online without putting yourself in danger.

So what are you waiting for? Let's get started!

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Top 15 internet safety rules and what not to do online

So much of our daily life revolves around the internet, from work to education and even talking with friends. A  2021 survey  found that the average US household had around 25 internet-connected devices, up from 11 in 2019. The more online accounts and devices you have, the greater the scope for cybercriminals to cause you harm. That’s why it's now ever more essential to understand internet safety rules which protect you and your family from threats that may harm your data and devices. Read on to find out about key internet dangers and the ways to stay safe online.

The Key Dangers of the Internet

When you and your family use the internet, you are (often unknowingly) exposing yourself to a wide range of potential online threats. Digital landscapes as we know them are constantly evolving as cybercriminals devise new ways to target internet users. Here is a list of just some of the biggest internet dangers you and your family need to watch out for:

• Identity theft.
• Data breaches.
• Malware and viruses.
• Phishing and scam emails.
• Fake websites.
• Online scams.
• Romance scams.
• Inappropriate content.
• Cyberbullying.
• Faulty privacy settings.

Essential Internet Safety Tips

To avoid all of these dangers, we recommend following our essential internet safety tips when you or your family are online:

1. Make sure you’re using a secure internet connection

Although using public Wi-Fi is not recommended, it’s sometimes unavoidable when you are out and about. However, when you go online in a public place and use a  public Wi-Fi  connection, you have no direct control over its security, which could leave you vulnerable to cyberattacks. So, if you are using public Wi-Fi, avoid carrying out personal transactions that use sensitive data, such as online banking or online shopping.

If you need to do any one of these, use a  Virtual Private Network or VPN . A VPN will protect any of the data you send over an unsecured network via real-time encryption. If you don't use a VPN, we recommend saving any personal transactions until you can use a trusted internet connection. You can find out more about what a VPN is here .

2. Choose strong passwords

Passwords are one of the biggest weak spots when it comes to cybersecurity. People often choose passwords that are easy to remember and, therefore, easy for hackers to crack with hacking software. In addition to this, using the same password for multiple sites puts your data at further risk. If hackers obtain your credentials from one site, they can potentially access other websites which use the same login details.

Select  strong passwords  that are harder for cybercriminals to crack. A strong password is:

• Long – made up of at least 12 characters (ideally more).
• A mix of characters – upper-case and lower-case letters plus symbols and numbers.
• Avoids the obvious – such as using sequential numbers (“1234”) or personal information that someone who knows you might guess (or that might already be online), such as your date of birth or a pet’s name.
• Avoids memorable keyboard paths.

Using a  password manager  can help. Password managers help users create strong passwords, store them in a digital vault (which is protected by a single master password) and retrieve them when logging into accounts online.

3. Enable multi-factor authentication where you can

Multifactor authentication (MFA) is an authentication method that asks users to provide two or more verification methods to access an online account. For example, instead of simply asking for a username or password, multifactor authentication goes further by requesting additional information, such as:

• An extra one-time password that the website's authentication servers send to the user's phone or email address.
• Answers to personal security questions.
• A fingerprint or other biometric information, such as voice or face recognition.

Multifactor authentication decreases the likelihood of a successful cyberattack. To make your online accounts more secure, it’s a good idea to implement multifactor authentication where possible. You can also consider using a third-party authenticator app, such as Google Authenticator or Authy, to help with your internet security.

4. Keep software and operating systems updated

Developers are constantly working to make products safe, monitoring the latest threats and rolling out security patches in case of vulnerabilities in their software. By using the latest versions of your operating systems and apps, you will benefit from the latest security patches. This is especially important for apps that contain payment, health or other sensitive information about a user.

5. Check that websites look and feel reliable

For any website you visit, especially ones you transact with (such as e-commerce sites), it's crucial that they are reliable. A key element to look out for is an SSL/security certificate . This means, lookout for URLs that start with “HTTPS” rather than “HTTP” (the “S” stands for “secure”) and have a padlock icon in the address bar. Other trust signals include:

• Text which is free from spelling and grammar mistakes – reputable brands will make an effort to ensure their websites are well-written and proofread.
• Images that are not pixelated and fit the screen's width correctly.
• Ads that feel organic and are not too overpowering.
• No sudden changes in color or theme. In some cases, where users have interacted with a particular website and returned to a familiar page from a link, subtle color or design changes might indicate forgery.
• The accepted standards of online payments – legitimate ecommerce websites use credit or debit card portals or PayPal, only. If a website is using another form of digital money transfer to accept payments, it is probably fraudulent.

6. Review your privacy settings and understand privacy policies

Marketers love to know all about you, and so do hackers. Both can learn a lot from your browsing and social media usage. But you can take charge of how much information third-parties can access. Both web browsers and mobile operating systems have settings to protect your privacy online. Social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, amongst others, have privacy-enhancing settings that you can activate. It’s worth taking a while to review your privacy settings across the board and make sure they are set to a level you are comfortable with.

Many of us accept privacy policies without reading them, but with so much data used for marketing and advertising (and hacking) purposes, it's a good idea to review the privacy policies of websites and apps you use, in order to understand how your data is collected and analyzed. However, bear in mind that even if your settings are set to private, very little data online is totally private. Hackers, website administrators and law enforcement could still have access to the information you regard as private.

7. Be careful of suspicious links and where you click

A careless click can expose your personal data online or infect your device with  malware . That’s why it's essential to browse consciously and avoid certain types of online content – such as links from untrusted sources and spam emails, online quizzes, clickbait, ‘free’ offers or unsolicited ads.

If you receive an email that you're not sure about, avoid clicking on any links in it or opening any attachments.

In fact, it's best to avoid opening untrusted emails at all. If you’re not sure whether an email is legitimate or not, go directly to the source. For example, if you receive a suspicious email from your “bank”, call your bank and ask them if the email is genuine.

When you’re on a website, make sure links click through to relevant or expected topics. For example, if you click on a link that you think is about safaris in Africa, but instead you're taken to a clickbait-style page about celebrity weight loss or a “where are they now?” style piece, then quickly close the page.

8. Make sure your devices are secure

With up to 60% of people using mobile devices for shopping and finding information online, instead of a desktop, it’s important that they are secured correctly. With all your devices – phones, computers, tablets, smartwatches, smart TVs, etc. – it's good practice to use passwords or passcodes and other security options like fingerprint readers or face-scanning technology. These measures will reduce the likelihood of a cyberattack or your personal data being stolen by hackers.

9. Backup data regularly

It's important to backup important personal information on external hard drives and regularly create new backups.  Ransomware  – a type of malware – involves cybercriminals locking your computer so you can’t access valuable files. Backing up your data – and your family’s data – helps mitigate the impact of a ransomware attack. You can protect yourself further with appropriate security software. Other forms of malware deny you access to your personal data by overwhelming your system or simply deleting files, so be careful.

10. Close unused accounts

Over the years, many of us accumulate old accounts that we no longer use. These can be a weak link in terms of safety when using the internet – not only are old accounts more likely to have weaker passwords, but some of those sites may have poor data protection policies. In addition, cybercriminals could piece together the information you have left in them, for example, old social media profiles – such as your date of birth or location, etc. – to build up a picture of your identity in an attempt to hack you later. As a result, we recommend closing your old online accounts and requesting that your data be deleted from the relevant third-party servers.

11. Be careful what you download

A top goal of cybercriminals is to trick you into downloading malware, which can be used to open a “backdoor” to your machine. Malware might be disguised as an app – anything from a popular game to something that checks traffic or the weather. Or, it could be hidden on a malicious website that attempts to install malware on your device.

Malware causes damage – such as disrupting how your device operates, stealing your personal data or allowing unauthorized access to your machine. This usually requires some action on your part, but there are also  drive-by downloads , where a website attempts to install software on your computer without asking for permission first. Think carefully before visiting a new website or downloading anything onto your device, and only download content from trusted or official sources. Regularly check your download folders and if unknown files appear on your system (potentially, from a drive-by), delete them immediately.

12. Be careful what you post and where

The internet does not have a delete key. Any comment or image you post online may stay online forever because removing the original won’t remove any copies that other people may have made. There is no way for you to ‘take back’ a comment you wish you hadn't made or remove an embarrassing image you posted. So, don't put anything online that you would not want a parent or prospective employer to see.

Similarly, be careful about disclosing personal information about yourself online. For example, avoid disclosing your social security number, address or date of birth in social media bios. You wouldn't hand personal information out to strangers individually, so don't hand it out to millions of people online.

Be careful about where you display or submit your email address. It's good to have a secondary, throwaway email account that you use solely for email sign-ups and subscriptions, separate from the one you use for friends and family, and separate from the one you use for work.

13. Be careful who you meet online

People you meet online are not always who they claim to be. Indeed, they may not even be real. Fake social media profiles are a popular way for hackers to groom unwary internet users and pick their cyber pockets. Apply the same caution in your online social life as you would for your in-person social life. This is particularly true with  the rise of online dating scams in recent years .

14. Double check online information

Sadly, fake news, misinformation and disinformation are all present on the internet. It's easy to feel lost with the flood of information we're exposed to every day. If you read something you are unsure of, do your own research to establish the facts. Reliable websites will have references to the original information and source materials. Suspicious pages won’t offer any references at all. Read  our guide to spotting fake news here .

15. Use a good antivirus and keep it updated

As well as following safety tips for online behavior, it's essential to use a good quality antivirus provider . Internet security software guards your devices and data and blocks common threats like viruses and malware (plus complex ones like spy apps, “cryptolockers” and XSS attacks). As with all operating systems and apps, it's essential to keep your antivirus updated to stay ahead of the latest cyberthreats.

3 Online safety rules for the kids

Although many of the tips to stay safe online are the same for adults and children, they are not easy or straightforward to explain. Often, children can accidentally be a gateway for malicious actors to gain access to your digital systems. It is therefore important to teach your kids the essentials of staying safe online in order to protect your home network from any unwanted accidents. Here are 3 areas that you should cover:

Digital Footprint

Your digital footprint, what exists of you online after usage, is an important concept that children need to know about. When teaching children about this, it’s important to focus on how information is readily available and how others could interact with this data (for example, email addresses and usernames that contain identifying information, which could be used for criminal activity). Wider discussions can also come from this, such as sharing content online (through social media, gaming accounts and emails). Make sure to clearly state what content is not allowed on the internet (photos, address, phone numbers and middle names).

Strong passwords are integral to modern cybersecurity measures today. Instructing children from a young age about the importance of strong passwords (ones that consists of at least 12 characters and are a mixture of letters, numbers and symbols) and their appropriate storage is one of the simplest ways to make the internet safer for your family. This is also why it can be very useful to have a password management system that can automatically fill in password credentials for different websites.

Communication

One of the most accessed routes for all manner of cybercriminal, online messaging and communication is a “must-have” conversation for your children’s safety. Primarily, it is important to explain how to identify and avoid messages, suspicious links, downloads or emails from strangers asking for identifying information online. This can also lead to a wider discussion about how to detect phishing scams and fake websites. The second most important part of safe online communication is correct engagement with others. Much like the real world, staying safe can sometimes depend on staying vigilant, engaging in polite communication and learning how to identify and not engage with bullying. Educate your child on what cyberbullying looks like and how to act kindly to others online.

Recommended products:

• Kaspersky Safe Kids
• Kaspersky Home Security
• Kaspersky Password Manager

Further reading:

• Do’s and don’ts for teaching internet safety to kids
• What is a security breach and how to avoid one?
• What is a Digital Footprint?
• Spam & Phishing | Phishing Scam Threats

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Dangers of the Internet to Children

Children who have access to the internet or computers, in general, are not always supervised. They read through instant messages for several hours because they like to chat with their friends and at other times with strangers. Recent research has revealed that 20% of children who are online are approached by sexual predators with an aim of fixing a chance for a face-to-face meeting with them. One of the major factors that make people so attracted to the internet is the inability to disclose the identity of the user. This is the main reason that makes the internet so dangerous to kids because kids do not always discover who they are interacting with. (Angelina, 2006)

Dangers Associated with Internet towards Children

A child may be thinking that they know the person on the other end but they can never be sure unless he or she happens to be a relative or a friend from school. This can result in children interacting with adults, pretending to be children through their home computers, due to the fact that the internet is a powerful, worldwide medium. Pedophiles, through the internet, communicate freely with each other like never before.

Since the internet was discovered as a way of virtual validation of their character by sharing conquests, both real and imagined. Their main discussions comprise of how to contact children online, lure them, as well as exchanging tips on techniques of seduction on how to win children sexually. The internet also provides a tool for these predators in exchanging tips on how to avoid being detected by the law.

Interlopers – these are the people who are in a situation where they have no right to be. They are people who try to intrude on the property or another person’s privacy without his permission. Interlopers of the internet are the people who access the internet of children without permission and interfere with the privacy of the internet.

Although children are not exposed to great risks of financial loss as much as adults are, they fall into the dangers of being exposed to interlopers who have the aim of hijacking or sharing online identities with kids. Children become more vulnerable to data theft as they are usually not able to identify or report data-snatching Malware: is a term that refers to software that is not solicited with an intention of annoying somebody, destroying, or even exploiting them.

They include viruses, backdoor Trojan programs, keylogging software, and malicious adware all of which can allow the attacker access to what is not authorized and which can be used to control one computer, especially when the malware loads invisibly and also because of their lack of caution in sharing vital information with friends and even strangers.

Data theft, when it occurs, can help a fraudster to steal information regarding the identity of the child such as names and addresses, and sell or retain them for personal gain like hijacking online accounts and even bank accounts, as well as spreading rumors while operating under the identity of the victim. The solution to this problem… Children should be instructed in using passwords that are long and hard to guess which consist of a mix of characters and numbers as well as being advised not to disclose their passwords to anyone, even if it is a friend. This can be achieved through making use of the guide on Microsoft’s strong password. (Kelvin, 2001)

Malicious Software

Children usually value ‘free’ rather than ‘safe’ and can therefore be exposed to malicious software. Peers like sharing links and files through which they risk downloading programs that are infected while in the process of looking for free music and software as well as serial numbers so as to use them in pirating games that are meant for commercial use. This is made possible by the fact that the distributors of malware know well that kids have a lot of trust in links beyond what they should confide in.

The solution to this problem is that kids should be taught to be very cautious while opening links from strangers and even friends; never click on ads or try to answer any unsolicited email, as well as teaching them not to be clicking the yes button without reading carefully the entire text on the screen. Kids should be advised to download only that software that is legitimate and from trusted sites, and report any suspicious items to an adult.

Inappropriate Content

Certain content is not appropriate for a minor depending on their age and therefore it should be the responsibility of every parent to use common sense to determine what is right for his or her child. Sometimes, even when children are not searching for adults and their content or materials that is violent online. They can easily come across them if they follow search engines or links that offer instant messages.

For example, scammers can use pornographic pop-ups with an aim of luring the user to click links with malicious software. To solve these problems for kids, parents should make use of content-blocking and other filtering software so as to control what children can see and also be informed that these filtering software can only apply for a certain age as well as depending on how the child is exposed to computer skills. (Kelvin, 2001)

In summary, there can be many dangers when children are unsupervised on the internet or computers in general. Parents should let their kids know that it is a privilege for them to use the internet and not a right. Children can also access dangerous material online even when they are at their friend’s houses. This requires the spirit of teamwork between parents so as to control the use of the internet by children in and outside their homes.

Angelina K. What do I say to my Net-savvy kids? McGraw-Hill Education. (2006).

Harley H. Internet insecurity: prentice-Hall Inc. (2002).

Kelvin F. coping with dangers on the internet: Rosen publishing Group Inc. (2001).

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StudyCorgi. (2021, October 15). Dangers of the Internet to Children. https://studycorgi.com/dangers-of-the-internet-to-children/

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1. StudyCorgi . "Dangers of the Internet to Children." October 15, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/dangers-of-the-internet-to-children/.

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The Risks of Using the Internet to Self-Diagnose

How to Avoid the Dangers of Self-Diagnosing

• Possible Risks
• User Statistics
• Social Media Risks
• How to Search Online
• Reputable Websites

More people turn to the Internet for health information than you might expect. Several studies suggest that as many as 81.5% of adults in the United States search the Internet whenever they have concerns about their health. While some use the information to direct them to the appropriate care, others use it to self-diagnose and self-treat.

The problem with this is that the quality of online resources varies dramatically. Even Wikipedia, the world's largest and most-read reference source, is frequently cited for inaccuracies in its health content. Some online sources, especially those on social media, can be outright misleading.

On top of this, it can be difficult to impossible for even a skilled clinician to diagnose many medical conditions based on symptoms alone. If a condition is serious, the consequence of misdiagnosis can be severe.

This article described the hazards of self-diagnosis and self-treatment from the Internet. It also offers tips on how to find reliable websites for general health and medical information.

What Are the Risks of Self-Diagnosing?

There is a lot of medical information online, some of it credible and some of it not. Even if a website is accurate, it is easy for someone without medical training to misinterpret it.

Using online information to self-diagnose poses numerous concerns, not least of which includes:

• Becoming overly certain : Based on your understanding of what you've read, you may become convinced that you have a certain condition and turn a deaf ear to other possible explanations.
• Needless scares : It's easy to latch on to the worst-case scenario whenever you have symptoms that worry you. This can lead to undue distress.
• Unnecessary tests : If you become fixated on a diagnosis that you made via the Internet, you may insist on tests that you don't need, wasting time and money.
• Unreliable sources : Just because a website looks reliable doesn't mean it is. This can lead you to draw the wrong conclusions,
• Confirmation bias : This happens when people are drawn to websites that confirm what they already think, such as believing that they are dying or can be cured with suspect treatments.
• Dangerous treatments : Treating a presumed condition with supplements, herbal remedies, or other alternative medication can lead to side effects, interactions, and unforeseen toxicities.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, some Chinese herbal products have been found to be contaminated with heavy metals, pesticides, and other toxic compounds. Manufacturing errors, in which one herb is mistakenly replaced with another, have also led to serious complications.

Who Searches for Health Information?

Research suggests that people who turn to the Internet for health information tend to be more affluent and educated. This is due in part to greater access to digital tools and high-speed internet.

According to research published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people in the United States who utilize the Internet the most for health information include:

• By age : Adults aged 30 to 44 (67.2%), followed closely by adults aged 18 to29 (62.7%)
• By race/ethnicity : White (63.4%) followed by Asian (60.1%), Black (49.0%), and Hispanic (46.2%)
• By gender : Women (63.3%), followed by men (53.5%) 

According to the non-profit Pew Research Center, high-frequency internet health seekers also vary by income, education, and certain health factors:

• By income : Annual household incomes of $75,000 or more (95%) versus annual household incomes of $30,000 or less (57%)
• By education : College degree (89%) versus high school degree (70%) or less than high school degree (38%)
• By chronic medical condition : No chronic conditions (81%) versus one or more chronic conditions (67%)
• By serious illness : Experienced recent medical emergency (85%) versus no recent medical emergency (77%)

The Digital Divide

The research highlights social inequalities in internet access, referred to as the "digital divide." Inequalities in access create obstacles to finding health information for lower-income and unemployed people who are already less likely to have adequate healthcare.

How Many People Self-Diagnose Mental Illness?

People not only use the Internet to research physical illnesses but mental illnesses as well. And, in some instances, learning about the symptoms of a mental condition (like bipolar disorder ) has led them to seek a diagnosis and treatment. This is especially true among younger people ages 15 to 35.

Others, however, recognize certain mental health symptoms and diagnose themselves without seeking treatment. The problem with this is that you are more likely to get it wrong than right.

According to a 2023 study from Indiana University involving 2,237 college students, those who self-diagnosed themselves with depression , social anxiety disorder , agoraphobia , panic disorder , and general anxiety disorder were five to 11 times more likely to get it wrong than right.

Among those who recognize their symptoms, there are many reasons why they do not seek treatment. According to a 2020 study published in Cureus, people with depression are 42% more likely to search online for mental health information than see a provider. Their reluctance is primarily due to the stigma surrounding mental illness in any form.

Self-Diagnosis vs. Munchausen Syndrome

Self-diagnosis of a disease, even if incorrect, is not the same thing as Munchausen syndrome . Munchausen syndrome, also known as factitious disorder imposed on self (FDIS), is a mental illness in which a person will deliberately manufacture, falsify, or exaggerate symptoms of an illness that does not exist.

FDIS is thought to be related to a personality disorder known as borderline personality disorder (BPD) which impacts a person's ability to manage their emotions and can result in impulsive actions and issues with self-image. While fully aware of their actions, a person with FDIS seems unable to control their actions and may go so far as to hurt themselves in order to "evidence" their claims and gain the attention they crave.

FDIS is also not the same thing as hypochondria , a condition otherwise known as illness anxiety disorder (IAD). This occurs when a person has excessive fear about getting a major illness and will often convince themselves that an otherwise minor symptom is a sign of something severe.

IAD can lead someone to self-diagnose on the Internet (doing so is typical of people with IAD). On the other hand, FDIS is characterized by false claims in which the Internet may be used to manufacture symptoms.

When used to manufacture a false illness for someone else (typically a child or an elderly person in one's care), the condition is popularly referred to as Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

The Connection Between Teens, Social Media, and Self-Diagnosis

As powerful a tool as social media can be, it inherently poses risks to those seeking health information. The main concern is that social media users are weaned on getting information in snippets, which is never a good place to start when researching health information.

Reliable consumer health sites aim to be concise but don't "cut to the chase" and skip over vital pieces of information. Sites like Instagram, TikTok, and X are founded on cutting to the chase.

Because adolescents and teens are at an impressionable age, they can fall prey to misinformation from individuals who post things like "top 10 lists" of diseases trending among youth. The most common of these is ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) .

According to a 2022 study in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, of the top 100 most popular videos about ADHD uploaded on TikTok, 52% were classified as misleading, while only 21% were considered useful.

Of the 27% categorized as personal experience, the accuracy of information fell well below those posted by healthcare professionals. Even so, personal accounts tended to be the most watched by TikTok viewers.

Similar misinformation about autism, anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder is widely disseminated on social media.

Self-Diagnosing vs. Munchausen Syndrome

How to use online information responsibly.

Using health information online can be a positive thing. One study says online health information "is becoming an increasingly important component of health and disease management."

Online health information is best used to:

• Learn more about your diagnosis than your provider has time to teach you
• Point you toward treatments you may want to discuss with your provider
• Find support from other people with the same chronic condition

You may find a lot of information online that you want to discuss with your provider. Presenting them with a huge packet of information at your appointment is unlikely to be helpful, though.

Instead, try to summarize it so you can cover the information in the small amount of time you're allotted during appointments. Also, ask your provider whether you can exchange information between appointments via an online patient portal.

How to Choose Reputable Websites

Among the most important things to keep in mind is that you should only look for health information on reputable websites. A little knowledge can help you weed out the ones that are best avoided.

When possible, go to websites from:

• Government agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Respected medical centers, university medical schools, and medical organizations such as the American College of Rheumatology
• Respected advocacy organizations such as the American Heart Association

Large health-related websites can offer a wealth of information, but they're not all created equal. Some things to look for include:

• Check the bottom of the page for a red and blue HON Code badge. That's a certification from the Health on the Net Foundation , which requires that sites meet certain quality requirements.
• Look for citations throughout the article and/or reference lists at the bottom of the article. If the site doesn't tell you where the information came from, be skeptical.
• Look for publication or update dates at the top or bottom of the article so you know you're getting current information.

Some online information is too general, while some sites get bogged down in medical jargon. Try to find those that explain medical terminology and make the information easy to understand.

Most people today look for health information online. However, when the Internet is used for self-diagnosis and self-treatment, it can expose people to inaccurate information and treatments that may not only be ineffective but potentially harmful.

When searching the Internet for health information, only use reliable websites from government agencies, reputable medical centers, universities, professional organizations, and advocacy groups. On large consumer health sites, look for HON Code certification which ensures quality standards.

Finney Rutten LJ, Blake KD, Greenberg-Worisek AJ, Allen SV, Moser RP, Hesse BW. Online health information seeking among US adults: Measuring progress toward a Healthy People 2020 objective .  Public Health Rep . 2019;134(6):617-625. doi:10.1177/0033354919874074

Mendes TB, Dawwon J, Sigalove SE, et al. Wikipedia in health professional schools: from an opponent to an ally . Med Sci Educ. 2021 Dec;31(6):2209–2216. doi:10.1007/s40670-021-01408-6

Yeung A, Ng E, Abi-Jaoude E. TikTok and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a cross-sectional study of social media content quality . Can J Psychiatry. 2022 Dec;67(12):899–906. doi:10.1177/07067437221082854

Rasmussen University. Are you really dying? Discovering the dangers of self-diagnosis .

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Traditional Chinese medicine: what you need to know .

Wang X, Cohen RA. Health information technology use among adults: United States, July–December 2022 . NCHS Data Brief No. 482 . Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics; 2023. doi:10.15620/cdc:133700

Pew Research Center. Profiles of health information seekers .

Van Meter AR, Birnbaum ML, Rizvi A, Kane JM. Online help-seeking prior to diagnosis: can web-based resources reduce the duration of untreated mood disorders in young people? J Affect Disord. 2019 Jun 1;252:130–134. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2019.04.019

Rutter LA, Howard J,, Lakhan P, Valdes D, Bollen J, Lorenzo-Luaces L. "I haven’t been diagnosed, but I should be"—insight into self-diagnoses of common mental health disorders: cross-sectional study. JMIR Form Res. 2023;7:e39206. doi:10.2196/39206

Alhusseini N, Banta JE, Oh J, Montgomery S. Understanding the use of electronic means to seek personal health information among adults in the United States . Cureus. 2020 Oct;12(10):e11190. doi:10.7759/cureus.11190

Caselli I, Poloni N, Ielmini M, Diurni M, Callegari C.  Epidemiology and evolution of the diagnostic classification of factitious disorders in  DSM-5 .  Psychol Res Behav Manag . 2017;10:387–394. doi:10.2147/PRBM.S153377

Lazzari C, Rabottini M. Comorbidity between factitious and borderline personality disorder: a narrative analysis . Psychiatr Danub. 2023 Spring;35(1):16-26. doi:10.24869/psyd.2023.16

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By Naveed Saleh, MD, MS Naveed Saleh, MD, MS, is a medical writer and editor covering new treatments and trending health news.

Is the internet safe?

Cybersecurity expert Chris Krebs raises the alarm on fraud, hacking, and misinformation with Joan Donovan.

Chris Krebs was fired by then-President Donald Trump from his post as director of the U.S. Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), after creating a CISA website to refute the false claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election.  Now a cybersecurity consultant, Krebs appeared at the Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum to discuss secure elections, endangered commerce, hacked utilities, and pineapple pizza.

In a spirited discussion with Joan Donovan, research director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at HKS, Krebs explained that while his public service career was lost by “taking the hit for integrity” over the election, it was the right thing to do. “It’s defending democracy,” he said. “Can you take anything more seriously? And that was the mentality across the entire CISA team: if we do anything meaningful in the entirety of our careers or our lifetimes, this is it.” And while he declared the 2020 election “the most secure in American history”, he stills feels misinformation, disinformation, and the internet's infrastructure can—and will—continue to wreak havoc and disrupt our lives. 

“The point of technology is to make things easier, to make things more efficient,” he said. “The problem though, is that there are downsides that allow bad actors who want to monetize the technology pieces. It gives them plenty of opportunity. The best case study for that right now is ransomware.” He pointed to this past summer when Colonial Pipeline, the transcontinental gas utility, went offline for several days due to a ransomware lockdown.  “Why don't we address the vulnerabilities? The benefits of technology still far outweigh the downside. Even with hacking, even with this information, the benefits we derive are still so far out in front. So, we are left with this broad attack surface.”

“It’s defending democracy. Can you take anything more seriously?”

Chris krebs.

And the attacks can come from all directions. “When you think about a critical infrastructure that connects people, then you have to worry about power,” he noted, recalling the hours-long blackout that Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms suffered this month. “So, I’m Instagram,” he continued, “a massive, massive commerce tool. That’s where a lot of small businesses market their goods and how they conduct daily business operations. That was a significant outage for a lot of infrastructure, and we don't always see those connective tissues. We just think about goofy dog tapes and beach pictures, but there's a lot of commerce that rides behind that.”

Krebs also highlighted something he has viewed for some time: a foreign adversary getting on a platform and amplifying or manipulating information, disrupting the intelligence community. “I honestly don't think we know enough about how the platforms operate right now to make meaningful regulation, meaningful legislation, to then inform regulation,” he said.  Donovan agreed. “We have to have more required disclosures from the platforms, much more research on the harms caused by these platforms, like financial fraud or personal injury. And then of course there are collective social injuries, like the January 6th insurgency,” she said.

Trying to explain how misinformation leads to divisiveness, the CISA team launched the “war on pineapple campaign,” an internet test to increase awareness on how disinformation campaigns influence operations work. Why pineapple? “It was in the wake of 2016, looking at the techniques that the Russians used to amplify a kind of social discord. We needed an issue to test where people were clearly on one side it of or the other. It couldn’t be political—that turns off 50% of people. As we discussed what that issue could be over a pizza lunch, there it was: whether you liked pineapple on your pizza or not. It actually was a coordinated behavior campaign to drive home the idea that Americans will argue over simple things, like a pizza topping.”

Despite all the work Krebs and his team at CISA did to authenticate the 2020 elections and disprove the claims of voting fraud, he remains a fan of paper ballots. “Paper gives you the ability to audit,” he stated. “When the claims began in the 2020 election that the system was rigged and we’re adjusting the vote counts, we said, ‘Ok, how about we count it?’ So Georgia counted, they counted their vote three times, and it was consistent every single time. We need as close to a hundred percent paper as possible.”

Photographs by Martha Stewart

More from HKS

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Home — Essay Samples — Information Science and Technology — Computer Security — How to Stay Safe Online: Safeguarding Against Internet Threats

How to Stay Safe Online: Safeguarding Against Internet Threats

• Categories: Computer Security Cyber Security

About this sample

Words: 2046 |

11 min read

Published: Aug 31, 2023

Words: 2046 | Pages: 4 | 11 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, encrypted messaging: online safety and risks, dangers of phishing, ensuring the child's safe online, the threat of clickjacking.

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• Lohmann, R. (2012). Teens and Cyberbullying : Study Reveals Surprises. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/teens-and-cyberbullying-s_b_1392962
• Tai, Z. (2014). Anonymity on the Internet Makes People Less Kind and More Hostile. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/internet-anonymity-makes-people-less-kind-more-hostile/
• Lord, N. (2019). 4 Strategies to Prevent Child Online Bullying. Dark Reading. https://www.darkreading.com/edge/theedge/4-strategies-to-prevent-child-online-bullying/b/d-id/1335869
• Lohmann, R. (2012). Teens and Cyberbullying: Study Reveals Surprises. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/teens-and-cyberbullying-s_b_1392962
• Sood, A. (2014). Online Shopping Sites Prone to Clickjacking Attacks. Symantec Blogs. https://symantec-enterprise-blogs.security.com/blogs/threat-intelligence/online-shopping-sites-prone-clickjacking-attacks

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Critical analysis of the risks in the use of the internet and social networks in childhood and adolescence.

• 1 Department of Applied Communication Studies, Faculty of Media and Communication Science, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
• 2 Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
• 3 Department of Sociology and Communication, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

Kids are people who consume content on the Internet very frequently and actively participate in social networks, so it is necessary to know the risks of their use by children and adolescents, in order to propose a critical analysis of them. This work is the result of two research studies: a qualitative and a quantitative analysis of 1,350 children and adolescents between 6 and 12 years old living in Spain. The objectives of this paper are analysing the attitudes of children and adolescents about the safe use of the Internet and social networks, studying the differences in the discourse of children and adults about the risks of their use, as well as defining areas for improvement to promote the safe use of the Internet and social networks. The main findings include intergenerational tensions between adults and children in the use of the Internet, the difficulty of reaching consensus and quality support when using the Internet. Children have transcended the physical and digital space considering it, so they must be given the tools, competences and security to fully develop their digital identity.

Introduction

The health pandemic we are experiencing has changed many of our routines and consumption habits, whether due to the more or less strict lockdowns or the recommendations that we must all adopt. Children have not been an alien part of this context, but rather one more actor with unmet needs and great deficiencies ( Núñez-Gómez et al., 2021 ). During the severe lockdowns in different countries all around the world, mobile devices have been, for many kids, their only means of socialising with their peers and entertainment, but also their learning tool to be able to follow classes ( Ghungrud et al., 2021 ).

If the use of mobile devices has been increasing in recent years, in Spain, as a result of COVID-19, the time spent using mobile phones increased by 38% and WhatsApp by 61% ( Ditrendia, 2020 ). These figures are in line with the academic community's growing interest in researching the uses, risks, threats and opportunities for children and, in particular, the so-called Alpha Generation ( McCrindle, 2014 ). In this regard, we find literature from more than a decade ago by Livingstone, Ponte, Staksrud, and Núñez-Gómez ( Staksrud et al., 2013 ; Livingstone et al., 2018 ; Livingstone and Blum-Ross, 2020 ; Núñez-Gómez et al., 2020 ; Livingstone and Stoilova, 2021 ). The studies by Kids Online, Global Kids Online, Common Sense Media, DigiLitEY Action, the work of ECREA and SIC-Spain, among others, are also a reference. In this regard, the latest study published by AIMC Niñ@s ( AIMC, 2019 ) in Spain and carried out on children aged between 3 and 13, shows that they use an average of 4.1 devices at home, with their favourites being the smartphone, tablet, television and video console. In addition, the study shows that 39% of the children interviewed own a tablet and 27.1% own a smartphone. In terms of screen exposure, children up to 12 years old spend an average of 5 h a day in front of a screen.

According to recent studies ( Núñez-Gómez et al., 2021 ), the Alpha Generation has a holistic experience with technology without making distinctions between formats and devices since, like adults, they do not consume in isolation. Kids under 8 years old see the Internet as a tool for entertainment and especially YouTube, which has a larger audience than many TV channels combined. In this sense, children under 12 years old love watching YouTube content produced by other peers ( McRoberts et al., 2016 ; Yarosh et al., 2016 ). The use and consumption of smart screens is one of our children's favourite activities, with a relationship directly proportional to their age ( Ortega-Mohedano and Pinto-Hernández, 2021 ).

The consumption of mobile devices is also associated with pathologies related to obesity and sedentary lifestyles ( Borzekowski, 2014 ; Hoge et al., 2017 ; Kenney and Gortmaker, 2017 ; Robinson et al., 2017 ; Goodyear et al., 2018 ) or with other risks such as digital and physical bullying, sexting or contact with strangers ( Garmendia et al., 2018 ; EU Kids Online, 2020 ). We are also facing “dangers that may be difficult to locate [such as] access to inappropriate content; uses of technology that expose the privacy and intimacy of kids to the eyes of friends and strangers” ( Sádaba and Bringué, 2010 , p. 88). In fact, the perception of risks differs considerably depending on the age of the children. For example, children aged 3–5 years are not aware of risks; while children aged 6–9 years have a strong desire for immediate reward, which makes them take risks ( Bond and Rawlings, 2018 ). The EU Kids Online study ( 2020 ) highlights the following risks: excessive Internet consumption, viewing images with sexual content, sexting [receiving messages with sexual content], viewing potentially harmful user-generated content, online aggression, and cyberbullying. In channelling, detecting and solving risks, most experts agree on the decisive role of family, school and administration in making and guaranteeing a “responsible, safe, and fruitful use of technology” ( Sádaba and Bringué, 2010 , p. 103). Livingstone and Stoilova (2021) have recently updated the classification of online risks, taking into account whether children are related to or exposed to harmful content; whether they experience or are identified by potentially harmful contact; whether they witness/participate in and/or are victims of potentially harmful content; or whether they are party to and/or exploited by a potentially harmful contract. The mentioned classification also distinguishes between aggressive, sexual and value risks, as well as cross-cutting risks related to privacy, health and fair treatment.

Online games also have their risks. They have a negative image compared to other games ( Morales, 2009 ) because of the addiction they generate and because they lead to diseases such as IGD (Internet Game Disorder) in some cases ( Gil et al., 2020 ). On the other hand, online games that allow numerous players to play at the same time (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Player Games - MMORPGs) have become very popular among young people. This type of games requires players to invest many hours, which has led to addiction problems, especially for those players who use the game as an escape from reality ( Kuss et al., 2012 ). However, it also allows them to make friends with strangers who are playing at the same time, something that occurs mainly in boys than in girls ( Bond and Rawlings, 2018 ). These types of games are also associated with an addiction to screens by younger children, those effects have been called “electronic cocaine” or “digital heroin” ( Kardaras, 2016 ). Many MMORPGs are characterised by online tracking of players' sessions [referring to the process of recording, measuring and analysing people's behaviour when they browse the Internet]. The game owner can monitor when, how and with whom the game is played and, depending on the device used, the player's location, images, facial data, the use of other applications or health information can also be accessed ( Corcoran and Costache, 2018 ). Among other things, this information will be used to make business decisions, to create consumer profiles or behavioural trends. Furthermore, Vlajic et al. (2018) argue that this type of tracking, in terms of user privacy, can be considered a major risk, because it could lead to the extraction and leakage of sensitive personal data. But it is also related to other ethical issues such as weblining [a practise that makes a user ineligible for certain goods and services based on their online profile] because, although today there is the possibility of creating anonymous avatars, with the increasing development of technology, it is very likely that, in the future, the anonymous digital avatar can be linked to the real person and their real-life transactions ( Corcoran and Costache, 2018 ).

Privacy breaches are another risk associated with Information and Communication Technologies -ICTs ( EU Kids Online, 2020 ). Children have difficulty understanding what privacy entails, they know little about cookies to track users and, in most cases, do not understand why personal data should not be given out, which is of particular concern to parents ( Watson, 2021 ). In fact, it is known that children are more likely to give their personal data if they are offered a prize or reward than an adult or a teenager. In this regard, research carried out by Madden et al. (2013) suggests that adolescents are increasingly aware of what privacy entails and choose not to download certain apps when asked for personal data. On the other hand, Hernández and Ebersole (2021) highlight the different views of privacy held by children and their parents. This is compounded by the fact that children pay little, if any, attention to privacy policies and lack of understanding of the legal and economic concepts explained in them. In this regard, the UN is working to develop a General Comment on Children's Rights and the Digital Environment recognising children's rights in the digital sphere ( Livingstone and Stoilova, 2021 ).

As for social networks, although the legal age for accessing these platforms is between 13 and 14 years old, millions of children under this age enjoy these services ( Gaptain, 2020 ). Beyond the pandemic, in the case of Spain, the latest studies reveal that children between 9 and 16 years old consult social networks every day or very often ( EU Kids Online, 2020 ), in primary school ( Gaptain, 2020 ) they change their date of birth to be able to have a profile on social networks and follow influencers on preferred social networks such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube or Twitch, while in secondary school they begin to have three types of profiles on social networks: one for the family, another one to search anonymously and freely express their opinions and the third one to spy. In this sense, according to Gaptain (2020) , social networks are co-educating children through the influencers they follow, something that makes their fathers, mothers and teachers to stop being references as they become digitalized, and a turning point where the digital divide and tensions between adults and children begin to take shape.

Given that the Internet and social networks have become a place of socialisation for children and adolescents ( Núñez-Gómez et al., 2020 ), it is necessary to propose a critical analysis that allows for the creation of a consensus on use of the Internet between children and adults. Such a consensus will only be possible in an environment of trust and mutual responsibility is built, something that does not exist today. Hence, the hypothesis of this work is that there are tensions between the preconceived ideas between adults and kids about the use of Internet and social networks by childhood and adolescence, and the demands of children and adolescents about their experience of use. Hence, the objectives of this study are as follows:

• To analyse attitudes among children and adolescents about the safe use of digital services and products.

• To study the differences between children's and adults' discourse related to risks in the use of the Internet and social networks.

• Define areas for improvement to promote safe and consensual use of the Internet and social networks.

The novelty of this work lies in responding to the need to lay the foundations for building consensus on the use of the Internet and social networks between adults and children. Children and adolescents need to be equipped with the necessary skills, competences and safety so that they can develop as responsible adults in all their facets, including the digital one. To achieve this, it is necessary to transform the current imposition of rules on the use of the Internet and social networks into commitments agreed by adults and children that promote the safe use of digital tools.

Methodology

The complexity of analysing the reality of childhood and adolescence requires the design of research procedures that allow for an accurate approach. It is easy to fall into common places, into preconceived and idealised visions of what it is to be a child, into giving meaning to certain concepts, and into adult social representations of childhood and adolescence. Social representations establish an order in the social domain, a code, a named classification of reality, and an oriented social communication ( Moscovici, 1979 ).

This article is presented as the result of two studies, a qualitative one to find out children's opinions on their attitudes toward the safe use of the Internet in childhood and adolescence. And another quantitative reseach, which consisted of applying a survey to children between 6 and 12 years old, to measure the use of devices and Apps in childhood and adolescence. Circumstantially, the start of the fieldwork for both studies coincided with the declaration of the pandemic due to the global health crisis caused by SARS-CoV-2. This circumstance meant that the application of the research methods selected a priori in the research design had to be adapted due to the impossibility of applying the techniques in person, and the reason for conducting the interviews (individual and group) through digital communication platforms.

For the study of social representations regarding the risks of using ICTs in childhood and adolescence, it is a requirement to apply methodologies for the identification of the elements that constitute the representations and their hierarchical organisation, as well as for the concretion and determination of the central nucleus or nuclei of these representations ( Abric, 2001 ).

The fieldwork for the qualitative study was carried out between February and July 2020, with 16 interviews with a selected sample of experts (key informants), distributed around 6 thematic blocks: awareness, Internet hoaxes, viral challenges, influencer phenomenon, video games, and sports betting. Several field notebooks have been completed with annotations based on the observations of the adolescent co-researchers in the study. The group of co-researchers consisted of six adolescent research assistants.

The selection of key informants was based on the criteria of having a diversified sample that included different perspectives from the public, private, academic, and organised civil society spheres ( Table 1 ). The sample included representatives from international technology companies, the Spanish State Attorney General's Office, the Guardia Civil's Telematic Crimes Group, various officials from Spanish Ministries, experts from several Spanish universities, representatives from third sector organisations, and a representative from the National Institute of Cybersecurity (INCIBE).

Table 1 . Sample of experts by sector.

The adolescents participating in the group interviews belonged to several municipal participation groups of the Platform for Childhood in Spain ( Table 2 ). They participated in six group interviews, each of which was linked to the thematic monographs addressed in the fieldwork.

Table 2 . Sample of adolescents.

Thus, in order to analyse the risks of ICTs use by children, a qualitative study design based on Grounded Theory ( Glaser and Strauss, 1967 ) was applied in the first phase. Above all, as it is a methodological proposal that is adjusted to the analysis of social representations for the definition of concepts as well as their properties and dimensions, and the integration of categories and subcategories into conceptual schemes. For the analysis based on Grounded Theory, Atlas.ti 9 software was used for developing the foundations of deduced, induced, and emerging categories.

Ideas and opinions in relation to the six selected thematic blocks were analysed with the collaboration of the mentioned team of adolescent co-researchers called the Gadget team. The Gadget team provided feedback during different consultation processes on the objectives of the study, the topics to be explored, the questions to ask adults and adolescents, and contributed to the interpretation of the results and the drawing of conclusions.

To consolidate the data obtained in the qualitative analysis, a second quantitative analysis was carried out through a survey on the expectations and habits of use of mobile devices and their Apps by children between 6 and 12 years old, which was conducted after the SARS- CoV-2 confinement in Spain. A self-administered questionnaire with a total of 36 questions, validated and pre-tested beforehand, was applied. At the same time, and prior to the fieldwork, an analysis of the most relevant publications of studies and research related to the object of study was carried out. The fieldwork was carried out from 23 November to 9 December 2020, with a sample of 1,350 boys and girls in the population of children aged 6–12 years in Spain. The distribution, monitoring, and follow-up of the survey was carried out through a research platform. A total of 675 surveys were administered to children between 6 and 9 years old and another 675 surveys to children betwen 10 and 12 years old. In order to be included in the study sample, the children surveyed had to be regular users of a smartphone and/or tablet, and for ethical reasons they had to have the authorisation and/or supervision of their parents and/or guardian when answering the questionnaire. Statistical processing of the data was carried out using SPSS software (version 25).

For this study, random sampling was carried out in cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants in Spain and by quotas of age, sex, region of residence, educational centre, and income received. Children from all the Autonomous Communities in Spain participated in this study.

The results of the qualitative study on attitudes toward the safe use of the Internet and social networks in childhood and adolescence are presented below, basing these results on the evidence obtained from the application of the survey on the use of devices and Apps by children.

As indicated in the chapter on methodology, a Grounded Theory analysis was carried out in order to address the type of adult representations on the type of use children make of ICTs. In order to carry out this analysis, an open coding of categories and subcategories was carried out from the interviews with adult experts, and from the ones with children and adolescents. The mentioned process resulted in the coding of 119 emerging categories in the case of the interviews with adults, and another 91 induced categories from the interviews with children and adolescents. The analysis procedure continued with the generation of an axial coding matrix that relates categories and subcategories linkable to indicated and induced phenomena from the interviews, as well as the stipulation of conditions, actions and consequences of these phenomena. In this way, the categories that provided a greater degree of explanation of the phenomena analysed according to the qualitative data from the fieldwork were verified. Furthermore, the explanatory value of these categories was double-checked by comparing the discourses of the adult informants and the adolescent informants.

From the selective coding, a number of central themes stand out that present contrasts between adult and children's discourse, as can be seen in the following Table 3 .

Table 3 . Central themes.

The main results of the quantitative analysis are detailed below, starting with children's assessment of Internet use.

If we look at the ratings with the highest degree of agreement in Figure 1 , we can begin to foresee possible factors to be highlighted with the aggregate responses of “agree” and “strongly agree,” such as: “entertainment” with 87.9% of responses, “rules of use” and “parental control” with 86.4% and 80.5% of responses respectively, all issues linked to “education,” “learning,” specifically the use of the Internet at school and its importance for learning, with 78.4 and 78.1% of agreement on its importance, respectively. In addition, the importance given to reflection and expression of ideas and feelings is noteworthy, with 75.8 and 62.6% of the children in the sample indicating that they agree and strongly agree with these issues. Among other issues, the singular valuation of advertising on the Internet stands out, especially when assessing the amount of advertising they see. In this sense, 67.9% of children say that they see too many advertisements when they use digital products and services. In addition, 38.9% of children say that they see advertisements that they consider harmful to their development.

Figure 1 . Evaluation of internet use (%). Children aged 6–12. Source: prepared by the authors.

On the other hand, there is disagreement on other issues. Adding the responses “strongly disagree” and “disagree,” 54.5% of children say that they do not feel unsafe using the Internet, and 46.3% of children say that they do not agree that they spend many hours a day connected to the Internet.

To consolidate the analysis of children's assessment of their use of the Internet, data from a factor analysis using principal component reduction is presented. As a result of the analysis, five principal components are obtained. Table 4 shows the results obtained with the names of the principal components.

Table 4 . Latent categories.

In the procedure for extracting the latent dimensions that underpin the children's valuation of the Internet, the variable “time spent connected to the Internet” explains a very small percentage of the variance, exactly 1.99%, and is not considered in any of the principal components calculated. It is only a factor that acquires greater relevance in Component 4: Quality digital consumption, exactly in relation to the impact of advertising in the digital ecosystem and the use of digital platforms. It is necessary to pay attention to this issue as it is a key indicator in most analyses of ICTs use among children and adolescents. In any case, this issue is prioritised in order to support, along with other factors and considerations, the possible “addiction syndrome” to ICTs among children.

In the detail of the dimensions considered, we proceed to group the variables corresponding to each main component, obtaining as a result the degree of valuations given by the children in the sample to each component.

The importance given by children to the component called “rules of use” (88.7% of children give this component a “high” and “very high” importance), “learning” (87.4% give it a “high” and “very high” rating) and “socialisation” (63.2%) stands out in Figure 2 .

Figure 2 . Evaluation of internet use. Main components (%). Boys and girls aged 6–12. Source: prepared by the authors.

The number of preferred digital activities identified by the children surveyed is significant, a total of 55. Although many of these digital activities are associated with a low percentage in the preferred selection, it should be taken into account that this information was obtained through open and spontaneous responses in the questionnaire applied in the survey. The diversity of digital activities, i.e., those that can be carried out through the use of different devices, should be taken into consideration when answering the question on the time spent by children using ICTs. In this sense, the following results are relevant: (i) the different types of use that each device may have; (ii) the number of activities related to the dimensions of socialisation and learning; (iii) the role that these devices and Apps acquire for interlocution and accompaniment; (iv) and that they are devices not only to facilitate the carrying out of activities but can also be a way of being in the world and being with others in the world.

It is worth noting, as mentioned above, the importance of those digital activities linked to entertainment and social relations, and therefore included in the “socialisation” dimension, and those related to learning and access to and management of information, which are included in the “learning” dimension ( Table 5 ).

Table 5 . Favourite activities with devices (grouped) (%).

Table 6 presents the relationships established in this study between the central themes obtained from the application of Grounded Theory analysis in the qualitative study and the principal components resulting from the application of a factor analysis with the data obtained from the children's survey. It has been verified which principal components were related on the basis of the categories and subcategories obtained in the Grounded Theory analysis, with the principal components.

Table 6 . Relationships established between core themes and principal components based on grounded theory analysis.

Based on the principal components obtained in the factor analysis of the survey data, the main results are presented below.

Internet usage rules:

• The adults interviewed give importance to the regulatory development in Spain and, at the same time, the deficit at the regulatory level in relation to the digital environment. On the other hand, the adolescents who took part in the research, although they did not explicitly mention legal or juridical issues, requested and demanded the recognition of their rights regarding regulations that have an impact on their daily lives. The need to reach agreements between children and adults in the generation of rules that affect their daily lives stands out. In this way, rules that are not decided and agreed between adults and children and adolescents become non-rules or imposed rules that are easy not to comply with.

• Although children are demanding their position as valid interlocutors in the processes of social interaction in all spheres and spaces, including in the cyberspace, there is still a clear opposition that corresponds to an adult imaginary in favour of limiting and restricting access to the Internet as the main strategy.

• Despite the tensions in being able to inhabit the different social spaces, the adolescent informants in the study requested and demanded the accompaniment of adults, albeit with conditions on the ways of generating and accepting the rules to be agreed upon, the latter being the main key.

• Children asked for a higher quality of adult accompaniment, and a necessary intergenerational trust between adults and children. When assessing children's attitudes in the use of ICTs, the lack of intergenerational agreements has been a generalised comment, as well as the social stigma on children due to the underestimation of their competences and aptitudes. It seems important to recognise the trust in children in order to establish partnerships between generations.

• Both children and adults agree on the importance of acquiring digital skills, as ICT have a significant impact on daily lives. However, they differ in the availability and mobilisation of digital resources, in the topics of key issues affecting every day because of the use of ICTs, in the absence of a valid adult dialogue, and in the lack of real meeting places for this dialogue. Thus, the Spanish teenagers who took part in the study highlighted both the lack of digital workshops at educational centres, as well as the limited impact of changes and technological transformation in the classroom and therefore in the educational methodology.

• The main debate that is established about access to information corresponds to the degree of capacity and incompetence of children in the view of adults, giving a lower value to digital experiences and experiences acquired at any age.

• Adolescents demand quotas of responsibility, above all linked to empowerment in decision-making, and adult accompaniment, but based on agreement and respect for consensual rules.

Socialisation:

• The virtual environment is made up of digital social spaces where habits, values and attitudes are formed. There is a difference between digital habits and healthy habits, the former being acquired in the digital environment in relation to digital phenomena, and the latter referring to a framework and process of controlled learning of healthy digital habits.

• There is tension over the designation of territories in childhood and adolescence due to the social spaces they must inhabit. The preferred territory for children and adolescents today is cyberspace, where they develop a sense of identity and generation. In cyberspace, children strengthen their group and generational identity (for example, the importance that the movement against climate change has acquired among children and adolescents is notorious). But if for them cyberspace is the “place,” for most adults it is the “non-place” in childhood and adolescence.

• Among the adult population, there is an undervaluation of rights linked to freedom of expression or access to information, and more specifically with aspects that the adolescent informants who participated in the research consider relevant in their daily lives, such as the right to play and to enjoy their free time on the Internet.

Quality Consumption:

• There is a correspondence between the discourse of adults and children regarding the poor quality of digital content. The adolescent key informants in the study suggest as a necessary strategy the control of the design of digital products and therefore of the services through which they are offered.

• Digital culture is permeated by phenomena linked to the products and services of the digital ecosystem. The participating children have expressed their reticence about the control of digital companies over their data, the ways of using Apps, and the time spent using products and services that are designed to captivate the user. In addition, they point to the importance of peer pressure on the type of ICT use and intensity of use. On the other hand, for adults there are too many digital phenomena: influencers, viral challenges, online sports betting, etc., which are obvious risks for children because of their presumed low skills and incompetence.

Safety in the use of digital products and services:

• Adults interviewed in the study highlighted the need to limit certain civil rights of children justified by the need to prioritise other fundamental rights, essentially those linked to social and child protection rights.

• There are different types of risk and as such they are analysed and studied, to which are added gradients of greater or lesser probability of being able to suffer threats due to conditions and factors of a social and individual nature. When assessing issues related to risks on the Internet and social networks, adults consider necessary to treat children as subjects of special vulnerability. The children participating in the study are aware of the vulnerability of children and adolescents in the use of ICTs, but they also extended those risks to the rest of the generations, especially due to the conditions of use of digital products and services specifically designed to captivate the user, and the vulnerability of any user due to a key factor: the low level of digital skills of most of the population in a rapidly changing digital ecosystem. A collectivised strategy to deal with risks and threats on the Internet seems necessary.

Although the health pandemic has accelerated some trends that had already been noted in relation to the use of the Internet and social networks by children and adolescents, children's consumption of the Internet has doubled in recent years ( EU Kids Online, 2020 ). Much of the content that was previously consumed on traditional channels is now consumed online, which is why YouTube is one of the platforms with the largest audience ( Tur-Viñes et al., 2018 ). In fact, the consumption of content via the Internet and social networks is one of the favourite activities of children and adolescents ( Ortega-Mohedano and Pinto-Hernández, 2021 ). In Spain, children connect to social networks every day ( EU Kids Online, 2020 ) and even have different profiles in order to navigate with different identities ( Gaptain, 2020 ). Therefore, it can be considered that the Internet and social networks have become a medium that allows children and adolescents to socialise ( Núñez-Gómez et al., 2020 ). In addition to socialisation and entertainment, children are co-educating ( Gaptain, 2020 ) themselves on the Internet and social networks, which means that the intergenerational digital divide between adults and children is growing, as well as the tensions it causes.

The particularity of the current research referred is that children have been given a status and position that is expressly significant both in the consultation on concepts related to the use and consumption of digital products and services and in their co-participation in the different phases of the research. In this way, it has allowed us to identify and analyse which ideas and categories are under tension and what are the potential factors of this tension at the intergenerational level. In other words, we can confirm the hypothesis of this work given that there are indeed tensions between the preconceived ideas among the adult population about the use of the Internet in childhood and adolescence, and the demands of children and adolescents about their experience of use. Hence, in terms of the objective related to analysing attitudes in childhood and adolescence about the safe use of digital services and products, we can conclude that there are numerous intergenerational tensions between the adult population and children. Firstly, there is a very tense central core due to adult conceptions of children's incapacity in terms of judgement and understanding, as well as moral incapacity. This issue affects a fundamental right such as access to information and freedom of expression. The empowerment of children is directly related to the exercise of citizenship, especially if a higher level of emancipation is required for decision-making and the achievement of intergenerational consensus in the generation of rules on the use of devices and Apps. This tension is intensified due to the difficulty of finding meeting points in relation to interests and concerns, in many cases common, and in social spaces where conversations between both population groups could be generated.

From the objective related to studying the differences between the discourse of children and adults linked to risks in the use of the Internet and social networks, the work has shown that children and adolescents have surpassed and gone beyond the threshold of traditional spaces and territories in childhood and adolescence, such as the family and school, and are situated in territories that are less controllable by adults, generating an extended conflict. The new places and territories generated by the use of the Internet extend and magnify the discourses and clichés about childhood and adolescence, understood as social constructs based on adult representation and generational order. In this way, the struggle over whether or not cyberspace should be considered an appropriate territory for children and adolescents is not resolved through restriction or strict control, but rather by considering children as valid interlocutors and subjects of rights in order to reach agreements in the formulation of rules on the use of the Internet. Children therefore demand greater appropriation of digital social spaces and social dialogue, especially where they can share with others a sense of belonging and a common construction of a way of experiencing their identity development. It can be inferred from the above that consensus is not easily generated between adults and children on the solutions provided in the face of risks on the Internet. Nor are alliances of support reached between generations to reduce the uncertainties recognised by all in the safe use of the Internet and social networks.

The tension between legitimised social representations on the safe use of the Internet and social networks by children and adolescents, and the latent and non-legitimised representations of children, requires a new social contract. A contract in which the demands of a collective, children and adolescents, who are asking to be part of the conversation and decision-making on issues that concern them, must be positivised. This contract must be based on mutualism, on an intergenerational collectivism (between adults and children) and on a generational collectivism that is involved in providing solutions to the challenge of security in the use of ICTs and in the common benefit of all groups and therefore individuals. Although it is not necessary to demonstrate the importance of theories of social representations for studies of this nature, it is evident that there are still prominent tensions between children and adults that emerge in the discourses of both social groups. Moreover, these conceptual and interpretative tensions relate to issues that are central both at the explanatory level, based on the qualitative data of this research, and in the importance of the categories, in many cases central, to which these generational tensions are linked.

In relation to the objective of defining areas for improvement in order to promote safer use of the Internet and social networks, the greatest challenge is to build real partnerships in order to reduce the recognised uncertainties in the safe use of the Internet and social networks. Above all, correcting and gradually reducing the powers and prerogatives attributed to adults in the shaping of the generational order. Therefore, it will be necessary to assess changes for intergenerational alliance and accompaniment on:

• Generate appropriate frameworks for trustworthiness and proportionality in the relationship between adults and children.

• Involve children and adolescents in the regulatory developments of the norms that concern them.

• Overcome social stigmas about child users of social networks and the Internet and their use of ICTs.

• Overcome a very deterministic view of childhood and adolescence related to the incapacitation of children's judgement, understanding and morality.

• The need for liberation and transformation of the representations held by both social groups (adults and children) in order to facilitate accompaniment as a major central category.

• Facilitate the whole set of repressed actions that exist because they are subject to collective imaginaries that each generation has of itself and of its own representation of social reality.

• Lack of appreciation and importance of issues on which there is consensus between adults and children and adolescents. There are clear consensuses, for example, the most notorious being the concern of both social groups about the risks on the Internet, or the need for mutual support for effective intergenerational accompaniment.

• The necessary increase in trust between adults and children as a necessary and initial step to support a discussion.

• The development and strengthening of generational awareness among children and adolescents and the visibility of citizenship in childhood and adolescence.

• Normalising children's agency in digital and other social spaces.

• Strengthening of accompanying partnerships to reduce recognised uncertainties in the safe use of the Internet and social networks.

• Correct and gradually reduce the powers and prerogatives attributed to adults in the shaping of a generational order.

Although it is true that, although the limitations of this work focus on a sample centred on one country and a specific number of children, the critical analysis of the risks in the use of the Internet and social networks in childhood and adolescence that this work presents provides us with great value in terms of how our society should work to tackle these risks. Today's ever-changing digital ecosystem requires us to acquire digital skills as a society even more intensely, and not just training aimed at children. We also need a globally agreed collective strategy to address risks and threats on the Internet that values children's digital space and digital culture. In fact, the SARS-CoV-2 confinement has shown that the main use that children have made of devices and Apps has been focused on learning and entertainment, and that their parents and guardians have had to relax the rules, which shows that intergenerational consensus works and that it is necessary beyond exceptional moments such as those we are experiencing due to the health pandemic.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Author Contributions

PN-G and KPL were involved in the conceptualisation of the project and acquisition of data and analysis. PN-G, KPL, CR, and FO-M were involved in the interpretation of the data. All authors were involved in drafting and revising the work for intellectual content and approved the manuscript for publication.

The research of this article has been funded by the European Project Safer Internet Centre-Spain. Agreement number: INEA/CEF/ICT/A2018/1634424. Action No: 2018-ES-IA-0037.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

The handling editor declared a shared research group with one of the authors PN-G at time of review.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Keywords: childhood, adolescence, online risks, internet, social networks

Citation: Núñez-Gómez P, Larrañaga KP, Rangel C and Ortega-Mohedano F (2021) Critical Analysis of the Risks in the Use of the Internet and Social Networks in Childhood and Adolescence. Front. Psychol. 12:683384. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.683384

Received: 20 March 2021; Accepted: 18 May 2021; Published: 27 July 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Núñez-Gómez, Larrañaga, Rangel and Ortega-Mohedano. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Patricia Núñez-Gómez, pnunezgo@ucm.es

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Essay on Dangers Of Technology

Students are often asked to write an essay on Dangers Of Technology in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Dangers Of Technology

Introduction.

Technology is a big part of our lives today. We use it for many things, like talking to friends, learning new things, and even playing games. But, it can also be dangerous. It’s important to understand these dangers so we can use technology safely.

Online Safety

When we use the internet, we can meet people we don’t know. Sometimes, these people can be mean or try to trick us. It’s important to be careful about who we talk to online and what information we share.

Health Risks

Using technology too much can be bad for our health. It can cause us to sit too much, which is not good for our bodies. It can also hurt our eyes if we look at screens for too long.

Privacy Issues

Technology can also put our private information at risk. Hackers can steal our information and use it in bad ways. It’s important to protect our information by using strong passwords and not sharing too much online.

Technology can be very helpful, but it can also be dangerous. We need to be careful and smart when we use it. By understanding the dangers, we can make sure we use technology in a safe way.

250 Words Essay on Dangers Of Technology

Technology is a big part of our lives today. We use it to learn, work, and have fun. But, it can also be dangerous. This essay will talk about why technology can be bad for us.

Health Issues

One big problem with technology is that it can hurt our health. When we spend a lot of time looking at screens, our eyes can get tired and hurt. This is called digital eye strain. Also, sitting for a long time can make our bodies hurt. This can lead to problems like obesity and heart disease.

Privacy Concerns

Another danger of technology is that it can invade our privacy. Websites and apps often collect information about us. This can include our location, what we like, and who we talk to. This is a big problem because it can be used to hurt us. For example, someone could steal our identity or our money.

We can also become too dependent on technology. This means we rely on it too much. For example, we might use GPS to get around instead of learning how to read a map. This can be bad because if the technology stops working, we might not know what to do.

In conclusion, technology can be dangerous. It can hurt our health, invade our privacy, and make us too dependent. We need to be careful about how we use technology and make sure we are safe.

500 Words Essay on Dangers Of Technology

Technology has become a big part of our lives. We use it every day in many ways, like phones, computers, and even cars. But, like everything else, technology also has its downsides. This essay will talk about the dangers of technology.

Risk to Privacy

One of the biggest risks of technology is to our privacy. When we use the internet, we leave a digital footprint. This can be used by people with bad intent to steal our personal information. They can use this information to commit crimes like identity theft. So, while technology helps us in many ways, it also makes us vulnerable to privacy risks.

Technology can also affect our health. Many of us spend a lot of time looking at screens, like computers or phones. This can lead to problems like poor eyesight or headaches. Too much screen time can also lead to lack of physical activity, which can cause obesity and other health problems. So, it is important to balance our use of technology with other activities.

Impact on Social Skills

Technology can also impact our social skills. When we spend too much time on our devices, we spend less time interacting with people in real life. This can make it harder for us to develop good social skills. It can also lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation. So, while technology can help us to connect with others, it can also make us feel more alone.

Dependence on Technology

Another risk of technology is that we can become too dependent on it. We use technology for so many things, like shopping, learning, and even finding our way around. If we become too reliant on technology, we can lose important skills. For example, if we always use GPS to get around, we might forget how to read a map. So, while technology can make our lives easier, it can also make us less self-reliant.

In conclusion, technology has many benefits, but it also has risks. It can put our privacy at risk, affect our health, impact our social skills, and make us too dependent on it. It is important to be aware of these risks and to use technology in a balanced and responsible way. By doing this, we can enjoy the benefits of technology while minimizing its dangers.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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Internet connectivity — even in 2024 — is vulnerable at a number of levels

Jenna McLaughlin

Modern human life relies on a stable internet connection. But threats to internet connectivity are varied — from underseas rock slides and technical errors to war and geopolitical conflict.

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The internet is in decline – it needs rewilding

The online world was meant to be an open system but has become dominated by huge corporations. If we are to revive it, that must end

B rowsing through a history of online public messaging last week, I came across a magical photograph from 1989 or 1990. It shows the world’s first web server. It was Tim Berners-Lee’s NeXT workstation in Cern, the international physics research lab, where he worked at the time. On the case is a tattered sticky label, on which is scribbled, in red ink, “This machine is a server DO NOT POWER IT DOWN!!”

Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist, had come up with the idea for a “world wide web” as a way of locating and accessing documents that were scattered all over the internet. With a small group of colleagues he envisaged, designed and implemented it in the late 1980s and eventually put the whole thing – protocols, server and browser software, HTML specification, etc. – on one of Cern’s internet servers, and in doing so changed the world.

He was able to do this because the internet, which had been publicly available since January 1983, enabled it. The network had no central ownership or controller; and it did only one thing – transfer data packets from one edge of the network to their destination at another edge. If you were smart enough to build an application that used data packets, then the internet would do it for you, no questions asked.

The result was an extraordinary explosion of creativity, and the emergence of what was, essentially, a kind of global commons. At that point in its history, the internet was, as one scholar later described it , “an architecture for permissionless innovation” or, more prosaically, a global machine for springing surprises. The first such surprise was the web. And because it was decided the web would grow better without profit considerations, Berners-Lee released it as a platform that would also enable permissionless innovation.

However, the next generation of innovators to benefit from this freedom – Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple et al – saw no reason to extend it to anyone else. They built fabulously profitable enterprises on the platform that Berners-Lee had created. The creative commons of the internet has been gradually and inexorably enclosed, much as agricultural land was by parliamentary acts from 1600 onwards in England.

The result, as Maria Farrell and Robin Berjon put it in a striking essay in Noema magazine , is that our online spaces are no longer open ecosystems. Instead “they’re plantations; highly concentrated and controlled environments, closer kin to the industrial farms that madden the creatures trapped within”.

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And these industrial farms have concentrated into a series of duopolies. Google and Apple’s browsers have nearly 85% of the world market share. Microsoft and Apple’s two desktop operating systems have almost 90%. Google runs about 90% of global search. More than half of all phones come from Apple and Samsung, while 99% of mobile operating systems are from Google or Apple. Apple and Google’s email clients manage nearly 90% of global email. GoDaddy and Cloudflare serve about 50% of global domain name system requests. And so on.

One of the consequences of this concentration, say Farrell and Berjon, is that the creative possibilities of permissionless innovation have become increasingly constrained. “Two kinds of everything may be enough to fill a fictional ark,” they write, “but can’t run an open, global ‘network of networks’ where everyone has the same chance to innovate.”

“The internet”, Eric Schmidt, former chairman of Google, famously observed, “is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn’t understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.” Since Dr Schmidt once ran the Google plantation, what he regards as anarchy is doubtless what ecologists would call diversity.

And of course for a plantation owner, diversity is a bug, not a feature. Farrell and Berjon make intriguing use of this metaphor. Their essay opens with an account of the notion of “scientific forestry” took hold in late 18th century Prussia and Saxony when officials began to rearrange their complex, diverse forests into straight rows of single-species trees: “Owners no longer relied on skilled local foresters to manage forests. They were replaced with lower-skilled labourers following basic algorithmic instructions to keep the monocrop tidy, the undergrowth bare.”

You can guess how this panned out. The first felling of the tidy trees yielded vast profits. Fresh trees were then planted, but were attacked by pests and disease. “The first magnificent bounty,” write Farrell and Berjon, “had not been the beginning of endless riches, but a one-off harvesting of millennia of soil wealth built up by biodiversity and symbiosis. Complexity was the goose that laid golden eggs, and she had been slaughtered.” As we Irish discovered in the great famine of 1845-49, monocultures are generally not a good idea and we abandon biodiversity at our peril.

Farrell and Berjon make the same point about our online world: the internet has become an extractive and fragile monoculture. We can revitalise it, but only by “rewilding” it – hence the title of their essay. I guess it will be as attractive to Silicon Valley as George Monbiot is to the National Farmers’ Union.

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Teens and social media use: What's the impact?

Social media is a term for internet sites and apps that you can use to share content you've created. Social media also lets you respond to content that others post. That can include pictures, text, reactions or comments on posts by others, and links to information.

Online sharing within social media sites helps many people stay in touch with friends or connect with new ones. And that may be more important for teenagers than other age groups. Friendships help teens feel supported and play a role in forming their identities. So, it's only natural to wonder how social media use might affect teens.

Social media is a big part of daily life for lots of teenagers.

How big? A 2022 survey of 13- to 17-year-olds offers a clue. Based on about 1,300 responses, the survey found that 35% of teens use at least one of five social media platforms more than several times a day. The five social media platforms are: YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

Social media doesn't affect all teens the same way. Use of social media is linked with healthy and unhealthy effects on mental health. These effects vary from one teenager to another. Social media effects on mental health depend on things such as:

• What a teen sees and does online.
• The amount of time spent online.
• Psychological factors, such as maturity level and any preexisting mental health conditions.
• Personal life circumstances, including cultural, social and economic factors.

Here are the general pros and cons of teen social media use, along with tips for parents.

Healthy social media

Social media lets teens create online identities, chat with others and build social networks. These networks can provide teens with support from other people who have hobbies or experiences in common. This type of support especially may help teens who:

• Lack social support offline or are lonely.
• Are going through a stressful time.
• Belong to groups that often get marginalized, such as racial minorities, the LGBTQ community and those who are differently abled.
• Have long-term medical conditions.

Sometimes, social media platforms help teens:

• Express themselves.
• Connect with other teens locally and across long distances.
• Learn how other teens cope with challenging life situations and mental health conditions.
• View or take part in moderated chat forums that encourage talking openly about topics such as mental health.
• Ask for help or seek healthcare for symptoms of mental health conditions.

These healthy effects of social media can help teens in general. They also may help teens who are prone to depression stay connected to others. And social media that's humorous or distracting may help a struggling teen cope with a challenging day.

Unhealthy social media

Social media use may have negative effects on some teens. It might:

• Distract from homework, exercise and family activities.
• Disrupt sleep.
• Lead to information that is biased or not correct.
• Become a means to spread rumors or share too much personal information.
• Lead some teens to form views about other people's lives or bodies that aren't realistic.
• Expose some teens to online predators, who might try to exploit or extort them.
• Expose some teens to cyberbullying, which can raise the risk of mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.

What's more, certain content related to risk-taking, and negative posts or interactions on social media, have been linked with self-harm and rarely, death.

The risks of social media use are linked with various factors. One may be how much time teens spend on these platforms.

In a study focusing on 12- to 15-year-olds in the United States, spending three hours a day using social media was linked to a higher risk of mental health concerns. That study was based on data collected in 2013 and 2014 from more than 6,500 participants.

Another study looked at data on more than 12,000 teens in England between the ages of 13 to 16. The researchers found that using social media more than three times a day predicted poor mental health and well-being in teens.

But not all research has found a link between time spent on social media and mental health risks in teens.

How teens use social media also might determine its impact. For instance, viewing certain types of content may raise some teens' mental health risks. This could include content that depicts:

• Illegal acts.
• Self-harm or harm to other people.
• Encouragement of habits tied to eating disorders, such as purging or restrictive eating.

These types of content may be even more risky for teens who already have a mental health condition. Being exposed to discrimination, hate or cyberbullying on social media also can raise the risk of anxiety or depression.

What teens share about themselves on social media also matters.

With the teenage brain, it's common to make a choice before thinking it through. So, teens might post something when they're angry or upset, and regret it later. That's known as stress posting.

Teens who post content also are at risk of sharing sexual photos or highly personal stories. This can lead to teens being bullied, harassed or even blackmailed.

Protecting your teen

You can take steps to help your teens use social media responsibly and limit some of the possible negative effects.

Use these tips:

Set rules and limits as needed. This helps prevent social media from getting in the way of activities, sleep, meals or homework.

For example, you could make a rule about not using social media until homework is done. Or you could set a daily time limit for social media use.

You also could choose to keep social media off-limits during certain times. These times might include during family meals and an hour before bed.

Set an example by following these rules yourself. And let your teen know what the consequences will be if your rules aren't followed.

• Manage any challenging behaviors. If your teen's social media use starts to challenge your rules or your sense of what's appropriate, talk with your teen about it. You also could connect with parents of your teen's friends or take a look at your teen's internet history.
• Turn on privacy settings. This can help keep your teen from sharing personal information or data that your teen didn't mean to share. Each of your teen's social media accounts likely has privacy setting that can be changed.

Monitor your teen's accounts. The American Psychological Association recommends you regularly review your child's social media use during the early teen years.

One way to monitor is to follow or "friend" your child's social accounts. As your teen gets older, you can choose to monitor your teen's social media less. Your teen's maturity level can help guide your decision.

Have regular talks with your teen about social media. These talks give you chances to ask how social media has been making your teen feel. Encourage your teen to let you know if something online worries or bothers your teen.

Regular talks offer you chances to give your child advice about social media too. For example, you can teach your teen to question whether content is accurate. You also can explain that social media is full of images about beauty and lifestyle that are not realistic.

• Be a role model for your teen. You might want to tell your child about your own social media habits. That can help you set a good example and keep your regular talks from being one-sided.

Explain what's not OK. Remind your teen that it's hurtful to gossip, spread rumors, bully or harm someone's reputation — online or otherwise.

Also remind your teen not to share personal information with strangers online. This includes people's addresses, telephone numbers, passwords, and bank or credit card numbers.

• Encourage face-to-face contact with friends. This is even more important for teens prone to social anxiety.

Talk to your child's healthcare professional if you think your teen has symptoms of anxiety, depression or other mental health concerns related to social media use. Also talk with your child's care professional if your teen has any of the following symptoms:

• Uses social media even when wanting to stop.
• Uses it so much that school, sleep, activities or relationships suffer.
• Often spends more time on social platforms than you intended.
• Lies in order to use social media.

Your teen might be referred to a mental healthcare professional who can help.

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• Hagan JF, et al., eds. Promoting the healthy and safe use of social media. In: Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents. 4th ed. https://publications.aap.org/pediatriccare. American Academy of Pediatrics; 2017. Accessed Oct. 3, 2023.
• Social media can help connect: Research-based tips from pediatricians for families. Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health. https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/media-and-children/center-of-excellence-on-social-media-and-youth-mental-health/. Accessed Oct. 3, 2023.
• Health advisory on social media use in adolescence. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/social-media-internet/health-advisory-adolescent-social-media-use. Accessed Oct. 3, 2023.
• Social media and teens. American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Social-Media-and-Teens-100.aspx. Accessed Oct. 3, 2023.
• Social media and youth mental health: The U.S. surgeon general's advisory. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/priorities/youth-mental-health/social-media/index.html. Accessed Oct. 3, 2023.
• Teens, social media and technology 2022. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/. Accessed Oct. 3, 2023.
• Popat A, et al. Exploring adolescents' perspectives on social media and mental health and well-being — A qualitative literature review. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2023; doi:10.1177/13591045221092884.
• Valkenburg PM, et al. Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of the evidence. Current Opinion in Psychology. 2022; doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.017.
• Berger MN, et al. Social media use and health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth: Systematic Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 2022; doi:10.2196/38449.
• Self-Harm. Pediatric Patient Education. https://publications.aap.org/patiented. Accessed Oct. 3, 2023.
• Liu M, et al. Time spent on social media and risk of depression in adolescents: A dose-response meta-analysis. 2022; doi:10.3390/ijerph19095164.
• Coyne SM, et al. Does time spent using social media impact mental health? An eight year longitudinal study. Computers in Human Behavior. 2020; doi:10.1016/j.chb.2019.106160.
• Viner RM, et al. Roles of cyberbullying, sleep, and physical activity in mediating the effects of social media use on mental health and wellbeing among young people in England: A secondary analysis of longitudinal data. The Lancet. Child & Adolescent Health. 2019; doi:10.1016/S2352-4642(19)30186-5.
• Riehm KE, et al. Associations between time spent using social media and internalizing and externalizing problems among US youth. JAMA Psychiatry. 2019; doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.2325.
• Hoge E, et al. Digital media, anxiety, and depression in children. Pediatrics. 2017; doi:10.1542/peds.2016-1758G.
• How to help kids navigate friendships and peer relationships. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/parenting/navigating-friendships. Accessed Oct. 24, 2023.
• Hoecker JL (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic. Oct. 31, 2023.
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• May 10, 2024   •   27:42 Stormy Daniels Takes the Stand
• May 9, 2024   •   34:42 One Strongman, One Billion Voters, and the Future of India
• May 8, 2024   •   28:28 A Plan to Remake the Middle East
• May 7, 2024   •   27:43 How Changing Ocean Temperatures Could Upend Life on Earth
• May 6, 2024   •   29:23 R.F.K. Jr.’s Battle to Get on the Ballot
• May 3, 2024   •   25:33 The Protesters and the President
• May 2, 2024   •   29:13 Biden Loosens Up on Weed
• May 1, 2024   •   35:16 The New Abortion Fight Before the Supreme Court
• April 30, 2024   •   27:40 The Secret Push That Could Ban TikTok
• April 29, 2024   •   47:53 Trump 2.0: What a Second Trump Presidency Would Bring
• April 26, 2024   •   21:50 Harvey Weinstein Conviction Thrown Out
• April 25, 2024   •   40:33 The Crackdown on Student Protesters

Stormy Daniels Takes the Stand

The porn star testified for eight hours at donald trump’s hush-money trial. this is how it went..

Hosted by Michael Barbaro

Featuring Jonah E. Bromwich

Produced by Olivia Natt and Michael Simon Johnson

Edited by Lexie Diao

With Paige Cowett

Original music by Will Reid and Marion Lozano

Engineered by Alyssa Moxley

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

This episode contains descriptions of an alleged sexual liaison.

What happened when Stormy Daniels took the stand for eight hours in the first criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump?

Jonah Bromwich, one of the lead reporters covering the trial for The Times, was in the room.

On today’s episode

Jonah E. Bromwich , who covers criminal justice in New York for The New York Times.

Background reading

In a second day of cross-examination, Stormy Daniels resisted the implication she had tried to shake down Donald J. Trump by selling her story of a sexual liaison.

Here are six takeaways from Ms. Daniels’s earlier testimony.

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

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Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney’s office and state criminal courts in Manhattan. More about Jonah E. Bromwich

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Friday 10 May 2024 22:26, UK

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Loaves of bread have been recalled from shelves in Japan after they were found to contain the remains of a rat.

Production of the bread in Tokyo has been halted after parts of a "small animal" were found by at least two people.

Pasco Shikishima Corp, which produces the bread, said 104,000 packages have been recalled as it apologised and promised compensation.

A company representative told Sky News's US partner network, NBC News, that a "small black rat" was found in the bread. No customers were reported to have fallen ill as a result of ingesting the contaminated bread.

"We deeply apologise for the serious inconvenience and trouble this has caused to our customers, suppliers, and other concerned parties," the spokesman said.

Pasco added in a separate statement that "we will do our utmost to strengthen our quality controls so that this will never happen again. We ask for your understanding and your co-operation."

Japanese media reports said at least two people who bought the bread in the Gunma prefecture, north-west of Tokyo, complained to the company about finding a rodent in the bread.

Record levels of shoplifting appear to be declining as fewer shopkeepers reported thefts last year, new figures show. 

A survey by the Office for National Statistics shows 26% of retailers experienced customer theft in 2023, down from a record high of 28% in 2022.

This comes despite a number of reports suggesting shoplifting is becoming more frequent. 

A  separate ONS finding , which used police crime data, showed reports of shoplifting were at their highest level in 20 years in 2023, with law enforcements logging 430,000 instances of the crime.

Let's get you up to speed on the biggest business news of the past 24 hours. 

A privately owned used-car platform is circling Cazoo Group, its stricken US-listed rival, which is on the brink of administration.

Sky News has learnt that Motors.co.uk is a leading contender to acquire Cazoo's marketplace operation, which would include its brand and intellectual property assets.

The process to auction the used-car platform's constituent parts comes after it spent tens of millions of pounds on sponsorship deals in football, snooker and darts in a rapid attempt to gain market share.

The owner of British Airways has reported a sharp rise in profits amid soaring demand for trips and a fall in the cost of fuel.

International Airlines Group said its operating profit for the first three months of the year was €68m (£58.5m) - above expectations and up from €9m (£7.7m) during the same period in 2023.

The company, which also owns Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling, said earnings had soared thanks to strong demand, particularly over the Easter holidays.

The prospect of a strike across Tata Steel's UK operations has gained further traction after a key union secured support for industrial action.

Community, which has more than 3,000 members, said 85% voted in favour of fighting the India-owned company's plans for up to 2,800 job losses, the majority of them at the country's biggest steelworks in Port Talbot, South Wales.

Tata confirmed last month it was to press ahead with the closure of the blast furnaces at the plant, replacing them with electric arc furnaces to reduce emissions and costs.

In doing so, the company rejected an alternative plan put forward by the Community, GMB and Unite unions that, they said, would raise productivity and protect jobs across the supply chain.

Rishi Sunak has told Sky News that the UK exiting recession shows the economy has "turned a corner". 

He told our economics editor Ed Conway : "I am pleased that while there's more work to do, today's figures show that the economy now has real momentum, and I'm confident that with time, people will start to feel the benefits of that.

"We've had multiple months now where wages are rising, energy bills have fallen, mortgage rates are down and taxes are being cut... I'm pleased with the progress that we're making."

Mr Sunak added: "I am confident the economy is getting healthier every week."

Lidl will increase staff wages for the third time in 12 months, the supermarket has announced. 

Shop workers in London will get £13.65, up from £13.55, while staff elsewhere will get a rise from a minimum £12 to £12.40 - at a cost of £2.5m to Lidl.

The supermarket invested £37m in pay increases in March, on top of £8m in September - a total of more than £50m in the past 12 months. 

The increase comes into effect from 1 June. 

Lidl GB chief executive Ryan McDonnell said: "As we continue to expand, we are welcoming more customers and attracting more colleagues into the business every day.

"It's absolutely right, therefore, that we continue to offer industry-leading pay."

Tech giant Apple has apologised after an advert for its new iPad model prompted outrage.  

The ad promoting the thinnest-ever iPad shows creative tools including cameras, books, paint cans and musical instruments being crushed in an industrial press.

But many, including celebrities like Hugh Grant, decried the crushing of artistic objects.

In a statement released to Ad Age, Tor Myhren, Apple's vice president of marketing communications, said: "Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it's incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world.

"Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry."

By Daniel Binns, business reporter

The FTSE 100 has been propelled to another record high this morning after official figures showed that the UK is now out of recession.

The index, of the London Stock Exchange's 100 most valuable companies, is up more than 0.5% and hit an intraday (during the day) high of 8,433 points earlier.

The score is based on a calculation of the total value of the shares on the index.

It comes after officials revealed that gross domestic product (GDP) in the UK grew by a better-than-expected 0.6% during the first three months of the year. 

However, commentators said investors had been buoyed more by the rising cost of metals, along with suggestions from the Bank of England yesterday that interest rates could be cut soon . 

Russ Mould, from investment platform AJ Bell, said: "Given its international horizons, this has little to do with the UK's better-than-expected GDP growth and is largely being driven by strength in the resources space where higher metals prices and the promise of M&A [mergers and acquisitions] are helping to stoke share prices.

"The next key test of the index's new-found vim and vigour will likely come next week in the form of US inflation figures. Investors have broadly accepted rate cuts won't be as deep or come as soon as would have been anticipated at the start of the year. However, any signs inflation is proving much more stubborn than predicted would still represent a shock to the system for financial markets."

Among the movers on Friday is UK-based mining firm Anglo American. 

Its shares are up almost 2% after reports that industry giant Rio Tinto has been considering a multibillion-pound takeover of the firm. It comes after Anglo American rejected a bid from rival BHP.  

Meanwhile, shares in Vodafone are up more than 2% after the government conditionally approved its plans to merge with fellow mobile operator Three. However, an investigation into the deal by the UK's competition watchdog is still ongoing, meaning it’s not a done deal yet. 

On the flip side, property listings website Rightmove is down nearly 6% this morning. It comes after the company cut its advertising revenue growth estimates in a trading update.

Rightmove said higher mortgage rates and lengthier completion times for sales were likely to weigh on buyer sentiment in the coming months, but it also forecast a better year for the UK residential market as a whole.

On the currency markets, £1 buys $1.25 US or €1.16.

Sainsbury's is running a scheme that allows some shoppers to earn easy Nectar card points. 

To earn extra points, shoppers just need to spend £1 across multiple transactions at Sainsbury's this month. 

The supermarket says the scheme is available to "millions" of customers, though all it would say about the eligibility criteria is that it's "based on a range of factors".

Check if you're eligible

Log into your nectar card app and check to see if you have this message...   

Make sure you opt in once you see the message. 

From there, you simply need to spend £1 or more five times - earning extra points each time. 

The number of bonus points on offer varies for each customer.

The offer runs until 4 June. 

Britain is not just out of recession. 

It is out of recession with a bang.

The economic growth reported this morning by the Office for National Statistics is not just faster than most economists expected, it's also the fastest growth we've seen since the tailend of the pandemic, when the UK was bouncing back from lockdown.

But, more than that, there are three other facts that the prime minister and chancellor will be gleeful about (and you can expect them to be talking about this number for a long time).

First, it's not just that the economy is now growing again after two quarters of contraction - that was the recession. 

An economic growth rate of 0.6% is near enough to what economists used to call "trend growth", back before the crisis - in other words, it's the kind of number that signifies the economy growing at more or less "normal" rates. 

And normality is precisely the thing the government wants us to believe we've returned to.

Second, that 0.6% means the UK is, alongside Canada, the fastest-growing economy in the G7 (we've yet to hear from Japan, but economists expect its economy to contract in the first quarter).

Third, it's not just gross domestic product that's up. So too is gross domestic product per head - the number you get when you divide our national income by every person in the country. After seven years without any growth, GDP per head rose by 0.4% in the first quarter. 

And since GDP per head is a better yardstick for the "feelgood factor", perhaps this means people will finally start to feel better off.

But this is where the problems come in. 

Because while this latest set of GDP figures is undoubtedly positive, the numbers that came before are undoubtedly grim.

GDP per head is still considerably lower, in real terms, than it was in 2022, before Liz Truss's disastrous mini-budget, or for that matter lower than in early 2019.

Raising another question: when people think about the state of the economy ahead of the election (and obviously these new figures are likely to increase the speculation about the date of the election), do they put more weight on the years of economic disappointment or the bounce back after them?

Do they focus on the fact that we're now growing at decent whack or on the fact that their income per head is, in real terms, no higher today than it was five years ago?

These are the questions we will all be mulling in the coming months - as the next election approaches. One thing is for sure: this won't be the last time you hear about these GDP numbers.

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