There
are many different things that people should be aware of when accessing the
Internet and different forms of media. Some of these include cyber stalking,
false identities, internet predators, countless websites that can be
potentially dangerous, not all information posted is private, kids are in
control when using the internet, colleges looking at social media pages,
bullying, jobs basing people’s social media sites on their character, and
lastly, sexting. All of these topics listed can be hazardous to children and
teenagers and all parents and guardians should be aware of this.
Cyber
stalking is definitely an issue in new media that any user of the Internet
should be aware of. The difference between cyber stalking and cyberbullying is
that with cyber stalking the stalker has an obsession with a specific target,
according to Paul Gil. They basically are willing to involve the targets family
members in order to control the target in some way. An example of this is when
a man stalked his ex-girlfriend by planting a cell phone underneath her car and
was able to track her by the GPS tracking device, according to Alexis Moore.
The victim called the police and told them that he would randomly “bump” into
her at random locations, but they couldn’t do anything because they had no
proof of stalking until one day when she caught him underneath her car changing
the battery in the phone.
On
the Internet there are billions of people to talk to and within those are your
friends also, but are all of them really your friends? You can’t see what’s on
the other side of the computer so a dangerous person could pose as someone else
and you would never know it. According to the Child Development Institute, “For
example, if your child is using social networking websites online, they have to
enter in their age. They could easily
lie themselves or they could be talking to someone else who is.” An example of
when this has actually happened according to ABC News is “Avalos, a mother and
part-time model, claims that her pictures have been used in hundreds of fake
profiles on Match.com without her consent.” This could happen to anyone. If you
have a Facebook or any other type of social media and there are pictures of you
on there, then go on Google Images and type in your name and your picture will
most likely pop up. I know mine does.
Another problem on the Internet that people need to be
completely aware of is Internet predators. According to the Child Development
Institute, the internet predators that target children are the ones that
usually change their age or gender on websites in order to make children think
that they really are their friends. There usually is no way to tell that this
person is a predator until they eventually come to approach your child. According
to James B. Kelleher of the Chicago Tribune, a 63 year old Roman Catholic
priest was arrested because he had possession on child pornography. He may not
have had a fake profile, but he was still preying on young children in pictures
that were engaging in sexual activities with older men. This goes to show that
you never know who is out there preying on children, especially when a priest
pleaded guilty to doing so.
On the Internet, there are billions of websites and this
can be very positive for school, but among those billions of websites are also
dangerous sites that children and teenagers shouldn’t have access to. According
to the Child Development Institute, some of these websites include “social
networking websites, adult chat rooms, pornographic websites, and websites that
are violent in nature.” Social networking sites are not completely bad, but
there are certain aspects of them that could be dangerous for children and
teens, such as child predators mentioned in the previous paragraph. All of
these websites are able to be blocked by certain firewalls, but many teens know
their way around these. This is why it is important for adults and parents to
know how to use the Internet just as well as their children these days.
On the Internet, not all information is private anymore. According
to the Child Development Institute, the biggest problem with people not having
privacy is because they create their profiles on social media to be public
instead of private. When someone does this it automatically allows people they
don’t know to view conversations, potentially finding out where they are and
even finding out where they live. Also, according to the New York Times, people
will not just give a stranger information about themselves, but they will go on
the Internet and give it out to websites. For example, if you are buying
something online, you have to put in many different pieces of information about
yourself and people can easily access this if they put in some effort and just
“simply” hack into a website. This is how identities are taken from people
because just by putting in a credit card number, a whole world of possibilities
is available to anyone that gets ahold of that type of information.
When children and teenagers are online, they are in
control of what they are doing, according to the Child Development Institute.
Their parents don’t always dictate what they are allowed to do even if they put
up firewalls. There are always different websites that allow a person to get
around those firewalls and access any type of website. Teenagers especially
know how to do this. In high school my friends and I used to do this in the
library at school because certain websites were blocked that we wanted to go
on. These websites that get through firewalls give you access to any kind of
sites including pornographic sites and inappropriate chat rooms. This can be a
huge issue and get children and teens into trouble.
A huge mistake that many kids in high school make is
posting different pictures and posts on their social media sites of drinking
and drugs. The mistake here is that colleges look at this to see if you will be
successful within the classes that you take. According to Time, “a recent
Kaplan Test Prep survey of 350 admissions officers, more than 25 percent of school
officials said they had looked up applicants on Facebook or Google.” This can
affect students negatively especially if they were associated with the wrong
crowd or just committed activities that colleges do not approve of. Everything
you post online can come back into play in your life no matter when it
occurred, especially when dealing with colleges.
Cyberbullying is a huge issue that occurs online that all
Internet users should be aware of. Cyberbullying, according to
stopbullying.gov, “is bullying that takes place using electronic technology.
Electronic technology includes devices and equipment such as cell phones,
computers, and tablets as well as communication tools including social media
sites, text messages, chat, and websites.” This is a huge issue because kids
can say things anonymously and the person they are targeting might not know how
to handle it so they don’t tell anyone and just deal with the criticism. This
is particularly easy for the bully to do because they don’t see the reaction or
have face-to-face contact with the victim so it is easier to feel no remorse. This
is something that all children and parents should be aware of to help prevent
it.
To go along with schools looking at social media, a huge
factor in getting jobs today is that employers looking for future employees
look at social media websites to find the right candidates. According to
Forbes, “A third (34%) of employers who scan social media profiles said they
have found content that has caused them not to hire the candidate.” This is
kind of scary when you think about it because you could miss out on an opportunity
that will never come around again, just because of one thing you post that they
may not find professional. This is going to make it incredibly hard for the
next generation to find decent jobs if employers keep using this as a way to
find potential employees.
Lastly, sexting is
a huge epidemic in a way that parents should be completely aware of because
according to Forbes, “A study by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) reveals
that 88% of self-made sexual or suggestive images and videos posted by young
people, often on social networking sites, are taken from their original online
location and uploaded on to other websites.” This is a huge problem because
teenagers may think they are just sending their “nude” picture to their
boyfriend or girlfriend, but really, they are sending this to the whole world.
All of these issues need to be addressed by parents to
their children and all parents should be aware that these topics happen every
day to millions of people. Most of these things will never go away and will
continue to haunt people for the rest of their lives. In today’s world, these
activities and facts will continue to get worse as technology increases at an
even more rapid rate than it has been in the last two decades. All parents
should be aware and make their children aware of the dangers of the internet.
Works Cited
Gil, Paul.
"Cyber stalking: What Is Cyber stalking? How Should I Deal with Cyber
stalkers?" About.com Internet for Beginners. N.p., Nov. 2013. Web. 17 Mar.
2014.
"Internet
Safety for Children & Teens – What Parents Should Know." Child
Development Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
Kelleher, James
B. "Pennsylvania Priest Gets 8 Years behind Bars for Child Porn."
Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune, 02 Jan. 2013. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
Lohr, Steve.
"How Privacy Can Vanish Online, a Bit at a Time." The New York Times.
The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2010. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
Luckerson,
Victor. "Time.com." US When Colleges Look Up Applicants on Facebook
The Unspoken New Admissions Test Comments. Time, 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 25 Mar.
2014.
Mohney, Gillian.
"Model's $1.5 Billion Suit Against Match.com Claims Fake Profiles."
ABC News. ABC News Network, 23 Nov. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
Moore,
Alexis A. "Women’s Press » Blog Archive » When Stalking Goes Online- Examples
of Cyber stalking." Women’s Press » Blog Archive » When Stalking Goes
Online- Examples of Cyber stalking. N.p., 17 Oct. 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
Smith,
Jacquelyn. "How Social Media Can Help (Or Hurt) You In Your Job
Search." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 16 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
"What
Is Cyberbullying." Home. Stopbullying.gov, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Worstall,
Tim. "The Perils Of Sexting And Parasite Websites." Forbes. Forbes
Magazine, 23 Oct. 2012. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
