I am still surprised by how popular online networking has become over the past few years. Almost everyone I come in contact with has some profile online. In the 'getting to know you phase' of relationships key questions are now "where do you live?", "Whats your phone number" and "Can I look you up online". It is pretty much a guarantee that you can find someone online. But I always wonder, how well can you get to know someone through what they post on the internet? Is the internet really a way for you to get to know other people or is it a means for people to pretend they are something they are not. There really isn't a 'big brother' censoring what you put about yourself on the internet. Sure, there are consequences and nothing is ever private, but for the most part, there is no way to prove what is true and what is false when it comes to online networking. In many ways, social networking allows participants to create the identity that they want, not necessary the identity they have, as seen by other individuals. This became apparent to me in the article about teens and MySpace. In the very beginning, there is a quote from a teen who admits that MySpace allows her portray the identity that her peers in school know nothing about. Social networking allows for self-expression in a way that you might not be able to show in real life with your face-to-face relationships.
This use a social networking is absolutely harmless and in some ways, probably healthy for that shy, new girl with few friends. The main appeal of social networking is that you are able to write whatever you want and be whoever you want. However, this fact only does create a problem, cue the online predator. Which such an opportunity for flighty identities, more and more people are falling victim to online harassment, especially teens and younger. CBS examines the growing interest in social networking, noting its increased probability for online predators here.
With such a vast online community, it is next to impossible to censor it and even more impossible to trust it. When developing relationships primarily online, who is to say what is true and what isn't? Are so many people depending on online relationships because they feel it is safer because they don't have to interact face-to-face, despite the fact that they might never know if they person they are communicating with is really who they say they are.
Needless to say, I am bringing out my untrusting nature at this point. I just cant imagine getting involved in a relationship online with someone, anyone, without knowing them in person to back up what they are saying online. Who is to know whether they are presenting themselves accurately or not.
This fact concerns me even more when I think about all the children and preteens with internet access these days. A good percent of users on social networking sites are children under the age of 18. These children and their parents should be aware of the internet dangers these sites present.
So despite the freedom the internet allows, I cant help but wonder if this is all too much of a good thing when it comes to the more impressionable youth. Who knows what kind of people are out there in cyberland . . . . .
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2 comments:
Lori-
It's not my turn to respond, but I think especially for adolescent children, creating a virtual profile is dangerous. Why is it a good idea for children (or teens) to portray a completely different individual when they don’t even have a full comprehension of themselves to begin with? They are not old enough to understand the extreme dangers of online pedophiles and other equally scary scenarios. I really wish parents would better monitor their children and creative online sites (like Facebook and MySpace) would only permit adults. Though children may see this as a creative innovation, it will inevitably come back to haunt them in the future when exploring applying for school, exploring career options or even having a family.
I definitely agree with what Nicole is saying. Children these days are too nieve when it comes to online pedophiles. I feel that especially with facebook and myspace teens think it is a popularity contest and are friends with more people they do not know then people they are actual friends with. I agree that parents should monitor their children's usage of these sites, however, I do not think it is very realistic. When you are a teen or child and your parent tells you not to do something, that makes you want to explore it even more because the risk is almost seen as a challenge or adventure.
I personally know how dangerous these sites are. I did not create a myspace profile until freshman year of college so that I could talk to friends at community colleges at home that could not yet be involved in facebook. Anyways within my first week I got probably 50 friend requests from creeps I did not know. The kicker is one was at 41 year old man from South Bend who would send me messages even though I would not respond or accept his friend request. He claimed he lived in South Bend and worked in Chicago and wanted to meet new people and maybe go to lunch. After this scenario I was not only scared, but disgusted that I hardly ever use Myspace. I guess we just really have to be careful with who and what we trust these days or we are exposing ourselves to something dangerous, especially with young children or teens because like nicole said they are too young too understand!
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