Being Aware of the Dangers Online

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.