In a recent survey conducted by the Singapore Polytechnic’s School of Communication, Arts and Sciences, it was discovered that almost 50 percent of Singapore youth spend at least three hours in the Internet daily. Their most favourite activities? “Facebooking” and watching videos on Youtube. Due to Facebook’s popularity, the term “facebooking” has even been invented to refer to any activity that is done using this site.
Those who were included in the survey find social networking sites very useful in helping them get in touch with their friends and keeping themselves updated with current events.
However, just like any online activity, there are some serious security concerns that parents have to look into. Of the 800 respondents, twenty percent said that they have dated someone through a social networking site while ten percent said that they have been sexually harassed online. This news is really alarming. But instead of stopping the youths from using the internet because of these concerns, parents and schools should just educate them on how to practice safe use of the internet.
Kwa Lay Ping, a senior lecturer at the School of Communication, Arts and Sciences, advises youths not to reveal personal information such as home address and handphone numbers over the internet.