Internet use involves both pros and cons for children and adolescents:

Some youth benefit from Internet use while for others it can exacerbate self-destructive behaviors

WASHINGTON — Between 75 and 90 percent of teenagers in the United States use the Internet to email, instant message (IM), visit chat rooms and explore other sites on the World Wide Web. According to the latest research presented in a special issue of Developmental Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA), spending a lot of time on the Web can have both negative and positive effects on young people, i.e., the sharing of self-injury practices by some and the improvement of academic performance and health awareness by others.

‘A major goal for this cumulation of research is to show the good and bad sides of the Internet as it relates to children,’ said coeditors of the special issue Patricia Greenfield, PhD, of the Children’s Digital Media Center, University of California at Los Angeles and Zheng Yan, PhD, of the State University of New York at Albany.”