Good Example Of Argumentative Essay On Arguments In Support Of The Claim

Impact of the growth of internet use among the youth

Introduction
Background, Overview and Thesis Statement
With the advancement of technology internet has become an integral part in our today’s community. The internet has not only been used for official purposes such as commerce but also for personal purposes. The internet has changed people’s way of life that is how they study; carry out commercial activity and most importantly how they socialize. Recent research has shown that, 80 per cent of the youth spend most of their time on the internet (McLelland 2009, 90). This has had detrimental effects on their ways of life. While the internet has impacted negatively to youth’s life, the positive impacts outweigh the adverse outcomes. With this, it is important for the youth to be aware of the impacts of internet on adolescent behavior. As the technology advances use of technology among the youth is inevitable. Thus rather than focusing on how to censor the youth on the usage of internet it is good that we encourage positive operations of the social networks.

First, the positive and beneficial socialization between youth of different backgrounds have been enhanced through the social networks. Mobile phones and the internet have greatly enforced social relationships among the youths. It helps them in building personal identity and group identities through the social networks (Atwood 2011, 4). This is because the mobile acts as a direct communication channel among the youth. This creates strong ties among the peers of different localities and geographical areas. For the children to succeed in the contemporary world, they need to know how to communicate and manage the public identity. This happens when they are in position to create home page and give their identities.
Second, the internet acts as a platform to explore new ideas, chat, get new friends and socialize. The youth are able to chat with their friends on the internet and share his or her views on different issues (Arowolo 2010, 34). Additionally, the internet is of great advantage especially in helping the youth practice social skills. This is of great advantage to the shy, marginalized youth and socially anxious youth in the society. Through the internet serviced they are able to practice on how to socialize with people in the social networks. For instance, they will be able to get an opportunity to express themselves than when communicating with a person face to face. This gives them a sense of identity and they feel that they are accepted and fit in the society. Through social communication the youth became confident in social real life situations which are very important in the adolescent development stage.
Third, regardless of the inappropriate site in the internet parents and educationalists have started appreciating and recognizing the internet as a powerful tool for learning and academic enhancement (Posner 2007 1). Recent research has shown that, children who spend most of their time in the internet score higher grades than those who do not. The internet will give information on sensitive topics such as interpersonal relations.
Fourth, because of faster communication and ability to engage online, the internet serves the community especially the youth by providing information on political participation and civic engagement. This increases the number of young people who participate in civic activities (Atwood 2011, 30). The internet ensures better, faster and increased communication among the youth. The internet offers global access to its users. The onset of intent use has ushered the world into a new evoke of real-time communication through a point and click of the button. This has created a new revolution as well as transformations in human communication world over (Shim 2007, 12). This means that, the youth are able to communicate with people from different geographical area, mobilize and take action as the case in Arab Spring. Internet is a social environment that aims at uniting people from different areas thus increasing sensitization and spread of ideas. This propels leadership, socialization, learning on an international skill and spread of information.

Counter arguments

On the other hand, the internet has some negative impacts on the youth. First, the social network has negative impacts on the social aspects. The youth are very much withdrawn from the members of their family and peers (Strom 2009 34). In most cases they do not have time to socialize with the members of the family because they are always glued on the screen chatting with strangers. In addition, the youth attach so much importance on the online friends and are not willing to create and establish contacts with the people around them, these impacts negatively on their social life.
Second, internet based chatting, socializing and relationships maybe detrimental to be youth. Parents have complained that the internet has become a tool for distributing sexually explicit materials, sex crimes and sex trafficking. This leads to the flooding of new cultures from shared cultural products such as movies, television programs music, some of which are immoral (Badie & Royal 2010, 34).Most children have watched pornography materials at a very young age. In the social websites people create fake identities and a false image of the real life situations (Atwood, 2011). This gives wrong impression to the youth and they may end up living a life that substituent the real life situations impacting negatively in their lives. The youth also spend too much time online. This impacts negatively because they will not have time to exercise resulting to obesity. Research has shown that, the percentage of obese children has greatly increased thus leading to death even before maturity (Strom 2009, 10).
Third, increased internet use affects academic performance of the students, more so through plagiarism. Plagiarism is the direct extraction of information from a website, a book, a journal or stealing someone’s information. Plagiarism is not being original with whatever content one is writing about. It is considered to as morally non ethical in academics and being not honest in academic work like writing reports after a research (Menager, Rosemarie, &Lyn Paulos 2010, 2). Academic, plagiarism mainly is the usage of one’s information without giving credit to the original author or publisher of the book. This is like assuming the owner’s right and getting the credit instead. The internet access among the students make the lazy ones engage in plagiarism. Lack of enough research among the students may lead to plagiarism because the students need to do enough research to be able to come up with an original paper. Short time to do research may lead to plagiarism because the students who are poor planners may be forced to use shortcuts which involve copy and pasting information from websites and journals.
Fourth, while internet promotes civic engagement among the youth, it has also led to violent protests, and planning of terrorist attacks. For example, the London riots were organized via Face Book and Twitter. The platform has also been used by the youth to spread hate speech, instill fear and spread hatred.

Refutation

While the above Counter arguments are critical, the overall positive benefits of internet to the youth cannot be underestimated. I affirm that my arguments are correct and the counter-arguments wrong. First, the claim that the youth spend a lot of time online should be addressed by having them adopt other past time activities and plan their time well. This will help them come up with better time management and allocation of appropriate time for the internet activities.
Second, to deal with the issues of pornography, there is software that filters web contents. This helps avoid sharing of pornographic materials. Today, sex education is important part of curriculum where students are counseled and empowered on internet safety and security. The social networks enhance direct communication between youths, peers and their parents this leads to the creation of a strong bond between friends and families.
Third, All the universities have policies on dealing with plagiarism. Plagiarism is deemed illegal because it violates the private property rights of one’s knowledge. The universities make the students aware of the consequences of plagiarism and how to avoid the issue. A student who has been caught with plagiarism may be suspended from the institution and his/her reputation is affected (Sonneborn, 2011, 10). The universities put a lot of effort in educating the students on ways of preventing plagiarism. They are informed on how to use citation sources to acknowledge the original writer, how to research thoroughly on the topic and avoid last minute research and b original (Posner, Richard A 2007:32).
Fourth, the adverse effects of internet as a civic engagement tool has been addressed through the ICT laws. Every country has laws regarding use of license communication tools, gadgets and the internet. As such, the law must take its course on those who abuse internet abuse.

Conclusion

The internet helps the youth to get new ideas on different issues in life especially academic thus exploring the academic field as a student (Yamada 2009, 87).The internet enhances education because of information access, ability to have e-learning programs and online teaching. While plagiarism has been rampant with the internet access, the negative impact cannot make the tool useless. Control and management of the menace is necessary. Plagiarism is an offence because it violates private property rights of the authentic owner. It is always good to be original and unique to avoid chances of plagiarism. Be composed and understand the subject matter then write drafts before writing the final copy. Through this one will save themselves from plagiarism consequences. Further, internet and online text messaging services like Whatsapp, impact negatively on the life of youths, for instance youths waste a lot of their time in the internet and sending text messages. These challenges can be addressed through internet safety policies and regulations and counseling the youth on ways to avoid internet addiction and behave responsibly online. The parents and guardians should get involved in children’s internet lives. For instance, they should place internet filters to prevent their children in accessing inappropriate sites. Lastly, the internet should be incorporated in student’s curriculum for them to learn the risks and benefits of using the internet.

References

Arowolo, D. 2010, the effects of western civilization and culture on Africa. Afro-Asian Journal of Social Sciences, 20-23.
Atwood, J. D., & Gallo, C. 2011. The effects of the internet on social relationships: Therapeutic considerations. Bloomington, IN: Iuniverse Inc.
Badie, B., & Royal, C., 2010, The imported state: the westernization of the political order. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
McLelland, M. 2009, Internationalizing Internet Studies; Beyond Anglophone Paradigms, New York, Taylor & Francis.
Menager, Rosemarie, and Lyn Paulos. 2010. Quick coach guide to avoiding plagiarism. Boston, Mass: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Posner, R. A. 2007. The little book of plagiarism. New York, Pantheon Books.
Strom, P., & Strom, R. D. 2009. Adolescents in the Internet age. Charlotte, N.C: Information Age Pub.
Shim, Y. 2007. The Impact of the Internet on Teenagers’ Face-to-Face Communication, Global Media Journal, 30-45.
Sonneborn, L. (2011). Frequently asked questions about plagiarism. New York, Rosen Pub.
Yamada, M. 2009, Westernization and cultural resistance in tattooing practices in contemporary Japan, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 319-338.