LITTLE ROCK — Dane Connell, 17, first place

“The Internet: Today’s Evolution or Tomorrow’s Menace?”

What a joy and possible tragedy the Internet has brought among so many individuals. The Internet is a place to make friends and communicate with others, a place to enlighten one’s self, and a place for progress.

However, the internet is also filled with misleading concepts, fallacious people, and dirty sites.

People all over the world use the Internet. This makes it a wonderful spot to find new friends and chat with old ones. The Internet is a fast, efficient way to communicate with others. Not only is it a place for communication; it is also a place to learn. The Internet is full of information for someone to enlighten themselves and become wiser. It helps those people who have questions on matters they need help with or places they would enjoy traveling to. The Internet is also a place for progress. It helps people who want to start a business get started, and allows them to create Web sites for their business telling others what they have to offer or sell. The Internet, being full of Web sites for business, fun, and social networking, can also help solve many problems and give answers to an abundance of questions. Just as a college helps shape and mold individual’s minds, the Internet can teach others to become successful and achieve their goals which they have set out to complete.

As helpful and efficient as the internet is, it can also be the Devil’s advocate. It is filled with misleading concepts, and can give people false information. This could be a problem for those who believe what it says, and get them into an immense amount of trouble sending them down the wrong path.

The Internet is also full of fallacious people that can cause harm to others. For example, there are people who take advantage of the Internet such as murderers, molesters, and kidnappers.

This causes a problem for young children who want to communicate with others and make friends. Another problem is that the internet enforces dirty Web sites which randomly pop up if you don’t have blocks on your computer. The Internet is full of porn which interacts in the minds of children and young adults, corrupting them to think in a more sexual way which could get them into serious trouble in the future. It takes an innocent child and makes them think it is ok to act in ways that addicts, rapist, and pornographers live by.

The Internet is neither an evolution nor a menace to the world, but is both.

This causes an overrulingproblem, because some individuals can’t stop. They can only contribute and make it worse. However, the Internet is a wonderful piece of technological advancement which has the power to create new life for people if used correctly.

Lauren Meyers, 16, third place

By having access to the internet, individuals are capable of pulling up research, chatting with friends, blogging about their day and soon. This is seen as an everyday luxury to more than half of the world. As it is true that the internet is veryhelpful, did anyone stop to think about the downsides?

There are many risks on the internet which can include ruining a relationship with friends and the possible danger of predators hiding on the internet.

Imagine that two very shy people meet up on the internet. They chat a lot on MySpace, find that they have things in common and eventually begin to date. They decide to go on their first date. While on the date, they are shy and awkward. What’s wrong with this? For some reason, some people just feel like they are stronger and more courageous online than in reality. Friends can get in a fight over the internet because they said something and it ruins the relationship. Miscommunication is a major error. This can cause many complications with your relationship with guys, friends, and even family.

Stories appear of girls who’ve gone missing or committed suicide. Sometimes, this is caused by meeting people who “understand” them on the internet. A young girl, nearly 15, got in a disagreement with a friend.

Her friend’s mom found out and sought revenge. By creating a MySpace account under the name of Conner and posed as him for weeks. She made the young girl think that “Conner” loved her. By manipulating her feelings, the mom then had “Conner” cuss her out, and call her dirty names. This masquerade hurt the young girl so bad that she went suicidal, and succeeded. How would one feel if your mom was a vulture who just wanted to hurt their friend? That she was the reason for the death of a naive girl? It is true that there far worse things such as cases of kidnapping and rape, but this is merely and example. The wolf hides in the flock of sheep and strikes out at the weakest.

Many argue that there are protections on the internet and that parents can over see what their child is on. That is one way to handle the situation/ Would they be able to sensor while at a friend’s house, school, library, and so on? It’d be too complicated to keep up with them. And,not all security walls can block out the bad. Individuals post insane things on the web and they act differently than most. It’s hard to determine what’s discreetly hidden among innocent websites.

All in all, the internet is seen to me as a nuisance. It can ruin relationships with friends, couples and families and it hoards many sadistic people. If the internet isn’t taken carefully, it can be a dangerous adventure for any young and unsuspecting teens. World Wide Web should be taken cautiously and everyone should be aware of the dangers that it poses.

Lorrie Klein, 11, first place

Click-clack. Click-clack.

Beep, beep, boop. Your old dinosaur computer or you new HP is in the process oftransporting you to your favorite site, Facebook.

Ah, Facebook; a Web site where you tap one colorful icon and you aretaken to Farmville, Yoville, or maybe even Fishworld.

Many people across the world despise the Internet.

Why exactly is the Internet so revolting, though? Well, it’s killing our planets direct contact, it’s depriving humans of all ages of their sleep, and it requires more bills to be paid. It also takes part in many crimes.

First of all our beloved Internet is literally endangering our face-to-face conversations. E-mail, Facebook, Myspace, and even dating sites are usually picked over, say, talking to someone in person. Kids, teens, and adults mainly choose instant messaging friends above meeting up with them. For those who desire to know, video calling is not direct contact. Soon, our face-toface conversations will be “old school”, and later on, be extinct.

The World Wide Web also causes late night updates of how long you’ve been awake. It’s bad for you health and growth if you don’t get enough sleep. For the record, it’s stupid to post something nobody will see for approximately ten more hours. Why don’t you listen to the baa-ing of sheep as you count them instead of the clicking the keys make as you tap them?

Did you know that the Internet also steals money from you and/or your parents? It does this my adding onto the thousands of bills you’ve already required to pay. Did you know that if you have practically 24-7 access to the Web it adds at least fifty dollars onto your monthly electricity bills? By the way, your Ebay purchases have all of those hidden fees, which always have to get paid. As you see, having the Internet rips your “fun” money away from you before you can say ‘I am a dork.’

“Police have discoveredyet another unsolved murder that supposedly is linked to Internet abuse,” the news lady says. Unfortunately, The World Wide Web is not a happy go lucky place for everyone. Murders, hacking, threats, robberies, they happen constantly. These past few years, hacking and cyber-bullying have been a major issue. It’s unbelievable that even dating sites are sources used to commit felonies. It’s easy to create a fake profile, post a fake picture of ‘yourself’, and receive your match(s). Eventually, you might swap addresses to write to each other, and (if you were a criminal) you could squeeze a murder in.

It would be super easy to do it, too.

In conclusion, your pasttime isn’t all that great. It’s mutual-Internet is as good as it is bad. Just think before you post something personal. Enjoy!

Ashtyn Mondy, 12, second place

Click, click you’re on the internet again. There are some good things about the internet like connecting with people and getting knowledge. There is also one very major problem with the internet. Its is chat rooms.

Is the internet really as good as it seems?

The internet is a great place to connect with people. You can e-mail people. If they are online, you can instant message them. Another good place to instant message is Facebook. Facebook is a website that many people are singing up for. This website makes it possible for you to can play games, poke people, and reconnect with friends from your past.

Another reason the internet is good is because you get knowledge. A person is able to learn their family history. It is a great way to find information for a report. Google is a popular website to get knowledge. All you have to do is type your question or whatever you need in the search box. It will give you the answer. The internet has an immense amount of answers that can be found quickly.

The one major drawback about the internet is chat rooms. Many people get on chat rooms and talk to strangers. For example, young children will be lied to in these types of rooms.

A child does not realize that they can be talking to an adult when they have no face to face contact. There are lots of bad things about the internet but chat rooms are about the worst.

In conclusion, the internet is great but also horrible.

The upside is that you can connect with people and get knowledge. The downside is the chat rooms and the safety of the child. So is the internet really as good as it seems?

School, Pages 9 on 03/10/2010