The way teenagers manage their time on the internet can become a big and powerful invention for a long time, especially during adolescent years. A major component of time spent on the internet is teenagers have all of these social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter where we message, post random things and send a multitude of pictures to our friends.

All of these activities have become part of our daily life and every one of us knows it. According to a study by Larry D. Rosen, a Psychology professor at California State University, sleep deprivation could be caused by excessive time on the computer on social networking websites.

From that point on, lack of sleep is easy to spread and it happens when you hang out with a friend who does not get much sleep, according to an examination done by Dr. Rosen. It also increases the chance of drug usage by 19 percent according to the same study.

Parents may hear this and think they should cut off their children’s Facebook page just like that but, according to Rosen, "Parents should set limits on their child’s behavior, but to do so with consulting them while listening to their thoughts and ideas."

Parents or guardians can always make up something of a schedule or shut-off time in order to minimize the excessive usage of computer time and, in turn, the amount of time spent on social networking sites.

Teens are also affected by bullying on the internet, an event that is called cyber-bullying. Some teens are afraid to go onto certain sites that they enjoy for fear that their tormentors will come after them.

These teens feel even more isolated; they feel that they are unworthy of friendship and undeserving of anything good in life, usually because of Facebook and Twitter.

Basically, cyber bullying makes them feel bad about themselves and hate going to school should their aggressors be at their school. Cyber-bullied teens are afraid of being publicly ridiculed, laughed at and further humiliated.

They are afraid the kids in school will point fingers at them, or somehow everyone in the school will think they are some kind of freak or geek. A recent study has shown that of the 33 percent of kids have been victimized, 56 percent of those victims have been abused in online chat rooms and 26 percent of these cases involve email usage.

Worse still, cyber-bullying may result in suicide, moving from a city, or perhaps even a country. Megan Meier, a thirteen-year-old victim of exactly this kind of bullying, committed suicide because of a fake friendship on MySpace with a boy, falsely known as Josh Evans, but in reality were several individuals.

The psychological affect of being cyber-bullied can lead to physical problems as well, rendering them physically ill which results in their staying away from school to avoid confrontation. This is why it may be good for parents to keep some restrictions on the computer just so the teen is not experiencing the darker side of social networking.

Teens should also learn to be careful with what they do on these social sites. All this has been studied by a dedicated researcher named Joe Medeiros who is the author of a book called ‘Cyber Bullying Prevention Tips for Parents, Kids, and Teens.’ Medeiros says that, "the cancerous growth of cyber bullying has created an environment in where our kids no longer feel safe."

Though cyber-bullying is a relatively new concept, its damaging effects are long-lasting, if not entirely permanent.