The Internet is a Tool of Knowledge...If Used Correctly

Amy Goldwasser wrote the article "What's the Matter with Kids Today," in which she answers nothing. Parents and the older generation are under the impression that the Internet is "melting their teen's brain." In her article, Goldwasser says that he Internet is an educational tool and teens and the younger generations are reading and writing more than ever. In my opinion, Goldwasser is right in saying the Internet is a great learning tool but she fails to mention the problems that can come from the Internet. You have to use the Internet the correct way for it to be an educational tool.

Goldwasser reports, "the average teen chooses to spend an average of 16.7 hours a week reading and writing online." In this statistic she is pointing out that the Internet creates a voluntary learning experience. Teens can get on the Internet today and look up and research any information they are interested in. Teens find these interesting articles and some create blogs, in which they respond in writing how they feel about the issue and creating a debate. From experience, I know that reading things are far more likely for me to complete when it's something that I'm interested in and that I voluntarily choose to read. When teachers assign readings in class it is usually something not interesting to you, but using the Internet can allow us to search the web about anything our mind can think of. Teachers are also using the popular Internet tool, YouTube, now in classes for visual references. I love when teachers use YouTube in class, because it helps me apply information learned to real life and gives me a visual to better understand the information. Teens use the Internet for multiple reasons, whether it be blogging, using facebook to stay connected with old friends, or researching a topic on YouTube and reading articles about it, the Internet is a successful learning tool. Goldwasser praises this tool by saying, "Teenagers today read and write for fun; it's part of their social lives. We need to start celebrating his unprecedented surge, incorporating it as an educational tool.."

Golwasser, however, does not mention the negative effects the Internet has on teenagers. In a generation of high speed we have instant messaging, text messaging, and facebook and mypace. In these technologies teens are trying to look for a faster way to communicate. This results in abbreviations and misspellings in order to speed up the process. For example, the famous LOL, GTG, BRB, 2day, ppl, cuz, and many more. Yes, teens are reading and writing more, but how are they writing. The poor texting and instant messaging grammar spills over into these students school work. I can't tell you the countless times i have written ppl in a paper instead of people, unconsciously. In the Internet communication it is not rare to see many punctuation mistakes also or no punctuation at all. I know from personal experience that my grammar and punctuation skills suffer greatly from lack of practice and extreme practice of common texting or IMing language. The Internet could also be used for negative reasons also. You can have facebook and myspace stalkers, Internet porn that teen boys are attracted to, and many other dangers out there.

Yes, the Internet is a great learning tool, but we need to teach our society to use it correctly. So many people abuse the great technology. Our bad grammar used in the cyber world is now spilling into reality. Overall Goldwasser is correct, but fails to mention the negative side to the Internet.