Recently, I was asked by my tutor at Academic Review day: “When doing homework, do you have any distractions? TV… MSN?” He of course noticed the look on my face when he mentioned ‘MSN’, as well as the embarrassed/guilty blush, all I could do was I sit there quietly and shift uncomfortably. It was at that moment that I realised, how dominated teenager’s lives are by the internet, things like MSN messenger, Facebook and Bebo.

The internet, although useful for things like research and work, can be a huge distraction, for everyone – teenagers and adults alike. If you Google ‘Facebook at work’ – not only will articles about workplaces banning Facebook come up, but also proxy sites where you can access them. It’s not hard to notice the related searches either, examples of these being: ‘access facebook at work’ and ‘unblock Facebook at work.’ However, this isn’t only a problem for workers, but for students too. There are proxy sites everywhere, aimed at students, such as: ‘schoolfacebookproxy’ or ‘proxy4school’ – that can be easily searched and found on, yes, again: Google – it is very likely that everywhere school-kids are accessing these sites during lessons instead of doing their work.

But I’m not one to talk, I spend most of my time on the internet. Even now, I’m signed onto MSN Messenger, when I know I shouldn’t be, my English coursework is waiting, but there are flashing boxes at the bottom of the screen that I’m just dying to open.