Catfishing Memo

Innis favours the internet’s orality due to the fact that individuals with very similar interests are now presented with the opportunity to create and express their beliefs, and establish new relationships and networks that disseminate the electronic mass media and its one- directedness. (Innis, 2008). The use of these social media sites such as Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter have further led to the re- injection of their personal experiences, feelings, their individual worldviews, and their creative thoughts (Innis, 2008) into what was formally ‘mechanized’. Though the internet promotes personal relationships, it has provided an avenue for people to assume false identities on social networks such as

In today’s generation, due to a lack of preparation and understanding of fake news in our education programs, the youth seem to be putting all of their trust in the Internet and most cannot determine if a news article is biased or not; therefore, young people seem to be more susceptible to fake news. Teens use the Internet for everything these days, and they need to be well-equipped with many ways to determine real articles from fake ones.

It is not uncommon for someone to exaggerate the truth or to leave out facts about themselves on the web. In fact, you may even find that the person you thought you knew on the internet is nothing like their profiles in real life. Whether it is to stand out in the crowd or to fool someone into thinking you are someone else entirely, you should not believe everything you see or read online. With photo enhancements, little white lies, and the scam termed catfishing, you just never really know who you are talking to or what their intentions are. Michele Fleming and Debra Rickwood, authors of “Teens in Cyberspace”, determine that parents and the public share the concern of teens encountering predators and pedophiles on the internet and could lead to inappropriate relationships on and off the web. The young generation typically communicates with peers and people close in age, however, Fleming and Rickwood advise “Even though many teens appear Net-savvy, they still need to be reminded of the potential dangers lurking online. There may be many friends in cyberspace but there are undoubtedly a number of

While identity theft was present in society previous to the appearance of the internet, this medium has provided thieves with an intriguing method to steal identities from people without even having to leave their house. "Today, more and more people engage in online financial activities such as shopping, banking, investing, and bill paying." (Understanding Identity Theft) While this reflects positively on people's lives by saving them significant time, it also exposes them to a world of

The Internet holds endless amounts of information where anyone can find whatever their heart desires. That being said, a person who is looking for a pretty face can visit a few sites and with just a few steps, can know anything and everything about that person. Because this is an increasingly pressing issue, I chose a video ad that shows not only how dangerous the Internet can be, but also how to avoid and get away from the treachery that people often use to lure young, unassuming teens into their traps. In our contemporary society, there is no limit what people can get ahold of; whether it is on social media or on a poster that someone saw at the grocery store, it never goes away. This is why teens and young adult need to use caution when

This paper examines the formation of the identity in the late modern society compared to the traditional society. There has a been high-tech development in our present society, which makes communication among people easier. In order to reach a better understanding of what characterizes identity formation in the late modern society, theories by Anthony Giddens and Erving Goffman will be used. Today, we have the opportunity to create our own virtual identity through social media. This paper analyses the American Documentary Catfish, with particular reference to relevant non-fiction and fiction codes. Catfish is a magnificent specimen of how easy identity can be faked on social media. The analysis shows that sociologist’ theories is an important

Author, Rob Horning in his article, “Google Alert for the Soul,” discusses how the once maintainable notions of authenticity as a “unique interior self” have since become unsustainable through the modes of social media (thenewinquiry.com). In this way, as a social media platform, Facebook reflects a notion of post-truth in which, “objective facts are less influential than appeals to personal beliefs” (OED). Specifically, this thematic trend is evident within my own Facebook experience through recurring instances that illustrate an ability to utilize the site as a means of creating an idealized self and environment. Thus, these elements further aid in demonstrating the Internet of Western society as a space that ultimately renders authenticity

Chilling Stories of Fake online identities and why people created by Patrick Smith was a head scratching and eye opening article. The article contained multiple events dealing with people that had to go through identity thief. Another article that covers new technology is “Can people trust the people you meet online’’? by Gwendolyn Sediman. This article also gave us another point of view on how new technology can be used in a corrupt way. The average person wouldn’t usually understand how dangerous new technology can be if the wrong person gets a terrible idea.

The advancement of technology is a major trend in modern society because there are now many ways to broadcast news. Technology is one of the biggest differences between generations and has a large impact on people’s lives and society. The media industry allows people to become informed about any ongoing issues through easier and faster access to information. Millennials are considered to be the most educated and informed out of all the previous generations since growing up with greater access to information leads them to create strong opinions on many topics (Pew Research Center 133). However, in this day and age, media is a large factor in providing inaccurate or unnecessary information. Media tends to dramatize almost everything it reports, but many media consumers like to “hop on the bandwagon” and believe information that is untrue instead of making time to research what is accurate. Due to the influence of media upon the public, Millennials especially, believe more of what they overhear on the news channels and internet than what they find in research.

Online social networks have become increasingly populated arenas for much of today’s population, especially with regards to high school and college students. Networks such as Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Vine, Twitter, etc., enable users to create an identity and present it to others by allowing them to share various aspects of their lives. Because individuals select their own content, the resulting representation can be either a true or imaginative reflection of the user. The attitudes, perspectives, behaviours and actions each individual chooses to present, shape their identity within the social media universe. Like most other web-based content, the pursuit of authenticity is assumed to be at the heart of these social media networks, playing an important role in our online interactions and our decisions about what web content we believe to be reliable. But, what about when the network structure allows users to create, post, and interact with anonymous identities? Anonymity eliminates the need decipher authenticity, however, it creates an issue by protecting the negative actions of empowered users.

The ability to access credible information is paramount. No matter what time of medium a person access (radio, television, newspaper, the internet, or social media), people should take responsibility and decide how much to information to believe. For example, social media websites like Facebook influences over 400 million users a day (Peiyu & Arnott, 2013). Websites as such allows users to access others affiliated in various interest groups around the world. Some people believe that media outlets abuse and manipulate the truth to confuse active media users. Today, studies prove different approaches to decide and control how readers should process new information is as the truth.

This article explains how informed teenagers with news that go on around the world. Even though we have easy access to news and current events a lot of people don’t use their resources to inform themselves on what happens within their surroundings. The main issue is how relevant and credible online sources tend to be nowadays, with social media it has become harder to tell apart facts from opinions. This has created a system called citizen journalism, which gives the public the chance to play a part of a role in the transmission of news with just using their phone. Meaning a lot of opinion based comments and posts that are being put on social media make it difficult for teenagers to tell apart reality from biased news. Researchers state that

The internet can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Imagine your every move was caught on camera for the world to see, your every fault documented and aired for everyone, that secret you told your best friend publicized on the evening news, or that intimate moment with your lover broadcast live. Newsweek writer, Jessica Bennett, wrote an article titled “The Flip Side of Internet Fame.” She argues how the internet can easily become one’s real life nightmare when the wrong person logs into the world wide web. Be careful what you put on the internet, as it may come back to haunt you.

The first problem is about fake identity. Internet identity is a social identity, established by Internet user. Compared with national identity, Internet identity is more unreliable. A new regulatory filing displays,‘8.7 percent of its 955 million monthly active users worldwide are actually duplicate or false accounts’ (Kelly, 2012). Minority people use fake identities based on professional, security or creative reasons, such as identity not suitable to be disclosed, famous by another name than the real one (Eler, 2012). However, more people are using fake identities for deception.

Today’s youth generation, has a strong attachment to the online world. Many adolescents spend most of their time online versus offline. Therefore, one can consider these adolescents as a social network addict, a person who spends a fair amount of time on one or many social platforms. Throughout the three articles, “Social Networking Addiction: An Overview of Preliminary Findings” by Mark Griffiths, “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship” by Nicole B. Ellison and “Taking Risky Opportunities in Youthful Content Creation: Teenagers’ use of Social Networking Sites for Intimacy, Privacy, and Self-expression” by Sonia Livingstone, show how this addiction has changed people’s communication among people. While there are