Pros And Cons Of Kids' Web Use

Studies Show Mix Of Potential Benefits, Risks When Kids Go Online

(WebMD) 
He suggests using highly restricted filtering programs and kid-oriented sites for very young kids, with less restrictive filters for older children.


Better Grades With Internet Use?

Michigan State University's Linda Jackson, PhD, and colleagues studied 140 children from low-income families who had never had home Internet access.

The kids received home computers and free Internet access for nearly a year and a half. The researchers checked the kids' grades and test scores before and after the study.

The kids with the greatest home Internet use had higher grade-point averages and reading test scores at six months, one year, and 16 months of home access.

The opposite wasn't true. That is, the kids with the highest grades and reading scores before the study didn't use the Internet more than other children, Jackson's team writes.

The kids used the Internet for an average of 30 minutes daily, mainly surfing the web. Web sites typically have text, letting kids practice reading. Web sites don't usually involve math, and math scores didn't change in the study.

After the study, the families kept the computers and received help in finding low-cost Internet access.


Crude Language In Chat Rooms

When teens visit moderated chat rooms, they're less likely to swear and engage in racy talk than if they visit chat rooms without moderators.

That's what Kaveri Subrahmanyam, PhD, and colleagues found when they studied 583 teens who visited a moderated and unmoderated chat room. The chat rooms were designed as places for teens to hang out, without specific topics.

Subrahmanyam works at California State University and is also associated with the Children's Digital Media Center at UCLA. She and her colleagues tracked the chat rooms from afar without joining in any conversations.

Unmonitored chats had more cursing and sexual content. Monitored chats "provided a relatively safe haven for participants who present themselves as young and female," write Subrahmanyam and colleagues.

It's hard to know if chatters were who they claimed to be, the researchers point out.


Seeking Sex Information

U.S. youths aren't the only ones going online with sex on their minds.

A study of 778 teens aged 15-18 in the African nation of Ghana shows that two-thirds had gone online, mainly at cafes with Internet access. All of the teens lived in Ghana's capital, Accra.

More than half of the teenage Internet users had sought health information, and sexual health information (including sexually transmitted diseases) was a leading health topic.

"Across the globe, young people try to obtain information about health, especially sexual health," write the researchers, who included Dina Borzekowski, EdD, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

"Nothing will or should replace interactions with health providers, but easily accessible, understandable, credible, and confidential information can improve the lives and choices of young people," the researchers write.

"The Internet is an invaluable tool for adolescents who use it to look for answers to personal, sensitive, and embarrassing questions about their bodies, relationships, and health," write Borzekowski and colleagues.

Sources: Whitlock, J. Developmental Psychology, May 1, 2006; vol 42. Yan, Z. Developmental Psychology, May 1, 2006; vol 42. Jackson, L. Developmental Psychology, May 1, 2006; vol 42. Subrahmanyam, K. Developmental Psychology, May 1, 2006; vol 42. Borzekowksi, D. Developmental Psychology, May 1, 2006; vol 42. News release, American Psychological Association.