When people are scared of their child getting hook on drugs or alcohol. Getting in trouble with their friends. There is maybe a bigger problem they should be worrying about. Video game addiction. A teen could sit in on spot all day everyday staring a television, playing games that you shoot and kill other people. I believe this could take over a young person mind and make them believe certain things. With the new technology that is coming into these videos games today it is getting more and more real. I believe this could be a danger. Some of these teens can not go a day without these games. This is a sign of addiction.
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/video-game-addiction-no-fun

Internet Addiction Disorder

Todays people are hardly ever satisfied and have jump to the internet to help with their boredom. Today you can bring your computer in form of a laptop. Even has easy has your mobile phone. You can have the internet anywhere you go. I believe this mean people can get addicted to it with such easy access all the time. Even if it is just checking your email, or facebook. It can become a terrible habbit. This article says that this habbit as those along with gambling, drug use and even an eating disorter.
http://allpsych.com/journal/internetaddiction.html

Suffering from information overload

Nowadays, technology made is easy to obtaining information . For instance, a researcher who is looking for information can access to all information by using search engines such as Google, Bing and so force. Whereas, 20 years ago his research is limited to the library database and subscribe journals. it is imperative for an individual to confined his research to limited resources to avoid confusion due to overload information.

the problem of information overload has existed for many years, in recent years the problem has become more widely recognised and experienced. Both perceptions and the actual effects of information overload have been exacerbated by the rapid advances made in information and communication technology, although it is not clear cut as to whether the Internet has worsened or improved the situation.although there is an abundance of information available, it is often difficult to obtain useful, relevant information when it is needed. Some solutions put forward to reduce information overload are: a reduction in the duplication of information found in the professional literature; the adoption of personal information management strategies, together with the integration of software solutions such as push technology and intelligent agents; and the provision of value-added information (filtered by software or information specialists). An emphasis is placed on technology as a tool and not the driver, while increased information literacy may provide the key to reducing information overload.(Angela Edmunds and Anne Morris, Department of Information Science, Loughborough University)

Quality Assurance Literacy

This literacy is sort of "meta literacy" as it is needed in all the other literacies. It entails first and foremost an awareness of the need and commitment for quality and excellence.
With the use of the new technologies at the tip of oneís fingers, new embellished creations can be relatively easily produced. The external beauty of PowerPoint presentations and websites might cover for the lack of quality of their content which though reliable, might be shallow.
Technological mastery is no way equivalent to deep thorough thinking as many recent researches show: Miller and Almon [6] ( 2003) in the USA, Fuchs and Al [7] ( 2005) in Germany, and Eshet and Hamburger [8] ( 2005) in Israel.There is a dire need for quality assurance at a time when seemingly everything and anything goes. We need to develop new standards for evaluating the excellence of the digital creations. These standards will help those working in the digital environment to evaluate their own work as well as the work of othersThe various literacies or strategies are interconnected and sometimes they even overlap. They function as guidelines to help us find our way in the maze of the digital-information world and to best use the immense options and possibilities this world has to offer. These literacies are needed outside the Digital Culture scene, but when it comes to the digital environment the mastery of these literacies becomes a must.
Kids are great consumers of the digital media.Strangely enough they have become the masters of the new technologies.
We learned to crawl alongside the PC. We came of age with the Internet. Early-adopting, hyperconnected, always on: Call us Children of the Revolution, the first teens and tweens to grow up with the network.... While others marvel at the digital future, we take it for granted. Think of it as the difference between a second language and a first..... In the past, you put away childish things when you grew up. But our tools are taking over the adult world...[9]
The following cartoon says it all:

The kids seem to be quite good in the photo-visual, the creative and to some extent in the reproduction components of the digital literacy.However they arenít always in control of the information, socio- emotional ,moderation and quality assurance aspects of the aforementioned literacies.

source: http://www.creativityatwork.com/articlesContent/aphek/digital-literacy.html

The Dangers of Online Gaming

The growing popularity of games and the availability of the Internet have taken gaming to a whole new level for today's generation of youth. Not only have online games become competitive, they have also posed new risks to what was once a harmless enjoyable activity as little as a generation ago.
Online gaming has affected children as well as some adults. Online gaming rehabilitation facilities are gradually being established both on the Internet and offline to assist people with game addiction. Medical professionals are beginning to recognize online gaming as a real addiction just like gambling, alcohol, and drugs. Gaming addiction can perpetrate a host of physical and mental issues that can be difficult to reverse, as well as expose your child inappropriate subject matter and potential predators.





Source: ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZojVd3fKYk&feature=related )

Network security risks and cyber crime

Cybercrime-related threats are gaining momentum through the use of crimeware, software tools built with the purpose of committing online scams and stealing information from consumers and businesses. As Symantec noted in the previous Internet Security Threat Report, attackers are moving away from large, multiple purpose attacks against traditional security devices such as firewalls and routers. Instead, they are focusing their efforts on regional targets, desktops, and Web applications that may allow an attacker to steal corporate, personal, financial, or confidential information; this information could then be used for additional criminal activity. Programs that provide attackers with unauthorized control of a computer, known as bots, also contribute to the rise in cybercrime threats. While the number of bot-infected computers is 11 percent lower than last period—with an average of 9,163 infected systems identified each day during the current reporting period—bot networks are increasingly used for criminal activities such as denial of service (DoS)-based extortion attempts. Symantec estimates that this measurement is only capturing a portion of global activity and that the actual infection numbers are likely to be much higher. On average, Symantec observed 1,402 DoS attacks per day, a 51 percent increase over the previous reporting period. Symantec speculates that this growth trend will continue as attackers leverage an increasing number of Web-based application and browser vulnerabilities. In the previous report, Symantec speculated that attacks directed at Web applications would increase. During the current reporting period, 69 percent of the vulnerabilities reported to Symantec affected Web application technologies, a 15 percent increase over the previous period. Web application technologies, which rely on a browser for their user interface, present an easier target for attackers due to their availability over commonly allowed protocols such as HTTP. Symantec has also seen an increase in modular malicious code, which initially possesses limited functionality but is designed to update itself with new, more damaging capabilities. Modular malicious threats often expose confidential information that can then be used in identity theft, credit card fraud, or other criminal financial activities. During the last six months of 2005, modular malicious code accounted for 88 percent of the top 50 malicious code samples reported to Symantec, up from 77 percent last period.

Source: (http://blog.emagined.com/2009/09/05/cybercrime-trends/)

Pornography Of Harm to Youth

While there are many ways that pornography harms children, I want to assure you that every child who views pornography will not necessarily be affected and, at worst, traumatized in the same way. The effects of pornography are progressive and addictive for many people. Just as every person who takes a drink does not automatically become an alcoholic, every child who is exposed to pornography does not automatically become a sexual deviant or sex addict. However, since pornography has a new door to the home, school, and library through the Internet, it is important for us to look at the many ways that pornography can potentially harm our children.

The Internet has proven a useful tool for pedophiles and sexual predators as they distribute child pornography, engage in sexually explicit conversations with children, and seek victims in chat rooms. The more pornography these individuals access, the higher the risk of their acting out what they see, including sexual assault, rape, and child molestation

Most of us find it difficult to talk to our children about sex in general, let alone the harmful effects of pornography, as graphically described in this chapter. We want to protect the innocence and purity of childhood for as long as possible

Source: http://www.protectkids.com/effects/harms.htm