Internet Ethnography

Social media has captivated young and adult equally, but young kids are more vulnerable to the negative effects of social media. In the essay writing by Peggy Orenstein, she is troubled by the way young boys and girls are submerged in the cyberspace. She found that places like Facebook or twitter can affect the developing personality of young kids. These kids are more likely to suffer from bulling, to engage in a sexual relationship sooner and with an older person, be the victims of sexual assaults and be self-center. Without being aware of the power of social media, I started using social media since 1996; while I was going to college in the Dominican Republic. I used to go to the computer center during my free time and signed into a

In Esther Dyson’s “Cyberspace: If You Don’t Love It, Leave It”, the existence of the internet is seen as potentially dangerous to today’s society. Dyson insists that the internet was once a sanctuary for tech savvy individuals such as gamers and professionals like engineers. The author focuses on the negative websites and communities that are often found offensive to the majority. She thinks the World Wide Web harbors a lot of power. This power can be accessed and conquered easily by most of the population. According to Dyson, responsibility is the key to changing the future (295). Her argument is convincing but slightly unrealistic. The internet seems to be growing into a whole other alternate universe. Society’s rapidly growing technology industry will only be harder to regulate. Most people will do what they want, when they want especially when it comes to the internet.

According to the Australian Institute of Criminology (2009) the US found half of the surveyed participants, both male and female aged 12 to 17 used social media. Having social media being a big part of children’s lives, makes it exceptionally easy for offenders to target their victims. In 2006 the Youth Internet Safety Survey found that over half of the children participating in the survey had been affected by some form of sexual harassment, and exposure to unwanted sexual material online (AIC 2009). As child grooming is mainly performed on the Internet, it is considered a worldwide problem (AIC 2009). With the use of crime theories, the crime of child grooming will be further explained using the social learning and routine activity theory.

Even with the dangerous developments in social media over the past several years, many parents have chosen to allow their children to use these sites despite age restrictions. There are three reasons to argue for age restrictions on social media sites: lack of supervision by parents, targeting of children by pedophiles, and the prevalence of children falsifying their age. The ability of pedophiles to conceivably target children with social media proves that this is an issue that parents need to examine so that they may better protect their children. The threat from pedophiles causes an enormous problem for millions of children on social media sites. Unfortunately, Western Daily Press states that “Pedophiles can get away with grooming young teenagers on social media sites.” My essay will argue that age restrictions need to be in place, and additional regulations should ensure that law enforcement agencies have the tools required to supervise underage children 's use of social media, including Facebook and Twitter. Quoting from Business Wire, “three out of four parents feel that social network sites are not protecting children.” According to Irish Independent, “four out of ten children falsify their age” when using social media. I will also argue that additional research on this topic can be used to raise the awareness of parents, and can also help to alert the children themselves to the danger. My essay will also examine questions, such as: How can social media sites protect

Online predators and Stalkers can easily gain access to social media users’ personal information by either requesting to be a user’s friend or simply finding a way around the user's privacy settings. According to June Ahn, chat rooms are public and is an unmonitored space where online predators are more likely to be. “Adolescents are less likely to be targeted for unwanted sexual solicitation in social media than chat rooms.”(Ahn, June) I have found that, 412 adolescents were more likely to talk with strangers. This is hazardous for young children and adolescents because their lack of life experience leads them to blindly accept all friend request. The effort to seem popular by having many friends online can damage credibility and truth worthiness.

Cyberbullying is the biggest cyber crime among all ages, that said it’s because the bullies use social media for to hide their true identity behind a screen. Cyberbullying on social media is everywhere, but on facebook 84.2% was reported, along with instagram reporting with a 23.4%, where 35% of the cyberbullying was in the form of sending mean messages and threats through instant messaging(“Cyberbullying…”). In which cyberbullying has led to find that 20% of respondents reported seriously think of attempting suicide, where as though those who are victims of cyberbullying that reported were twice as likely to attempt suicide compared to the youth that has not experienced cyberbullying (Hinduja). Among with cyberbullying victims are sex trafficking victims. Most sex trafficking victims are gullible children found online, where most of them are advertised and sold online, according to a U.S. Senate subcommittee report in 2017. The National Center for Missing Children and Exploited Children has said that more than 70% of the reports received are of those trafficked children. Though all children and adults are still at a risk of getting involved in the unending string of sex trafficking victims(Wulfhorst). Therefore meeting new people on platforms like social media come with many dangers that many don’t pay

As I myself say, the internet is “Stalking made easy.” In her article, “Friend Request or Foe,” Laurie L. Baughman persuades her audience of the dangers and risks pertaining to internet stalking, mainly pertaining to domestic violence. Baughman is a senior attorney at the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, thus giving her the right to speak about the topic. Facebook itself has over 400 million active viewers, and it considered the most popular online social networking sight for adults and children alike (Baughman 933). Baughman also points out that Facebook users in total upload approximately three billion photos every month and the average user spends about 55 minutes a day on the site (934-935). With such astronomical numbers like these, this introduces a whole new type of stalking based violence that was once again introduced by the internet.

This year I have three textbooks online and a multitude of activities to be completed with the use of the internet. As everyone can afford to keep up to date with the rapid growth of the internet, as well as keep on top of all the bills that come with that, it is completely reasonable to expect students to have access to the internet to study or complete homework. In a world overcoming sexism and racism it is a good thing that we do not have another way to separate society. Except we do; we are segregating society into those who have internet and those without.

One cannot assume an absolute division between the virtual and physical worlds. With the development of Web 2.0, an increasing entanglement of both spheres has taken place. Most people take virtual worlds dead serious. Nobody wants to be harmed in his or her virtual identity, i.e. to be "net-smutted" and "net-shitted" on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. Yet, people love it to be "net flirted" or "net loved". As yet, there is an essential human conflict how to deal with cyberspace and its effects on human behavior. Virtual phenomena thus are still being interpreted nearly as an illusion, or something that is true, but not totally true. The virtual world and its effects are like a phantom to the human mind. Propaganda in the Web is "nothing but a virtual call," can often be heard in the news. Yet, authoritarian states are shutting down Net services to avoid calls for demonstrations that might endanger their existence (for example in Egypt and China). Participants in Net-agitation are being punished with long prison terms by repressive states. Therefore, they create solidarity and hierarchy among speakers. Only participants who share linguistic, differentiated or restrictive codes belong to a certain in-group. Others may be discriminated and separated. Restrictive codes strengthen in-group cohesion, which leads to heightened out-group aggression.' Specially "restrictive codes," which are only understood by in-group

Stalking has been considered illegal conduct for many years. However, the use of online servers like Facebook has made online stalking, also known as “creeping”, an everyday transgression that is becoming increasingly normalized. “Creeping” is the act of searching through someone’s profile, status, friends list, events, and pictures without the person’s permission or knowledge. Just the definition of “creep” means to “move slowly and carefully, especially in order to avoid being heard or noticed” according to the dictionary. This is not far from the definition of “stalking” which is “the willful and repeated following, watching, and harassing of another person” (Pathe & Mullen, 1997). However, social media participants around the world do not see the correlations. For example, a 2012 research study asked, “when does creeping get weird?” and a 17-year-old girl responded by saying “I feel like now, it’s not really weird for anyone anymore” (Marwick, 2012). This is a clear example how normalized this transgression has become in our society. Therefore, this research paper is aimed at

With the advent of any new technology must also come an added respect and responsibility for that technology. Today's world has been significantly modified over the past decade due the internet and the superconductivity this tool has provided to its users. As a result of this popularity, a criminal element has seeped within the confines of cyberspace to present new challenges for lawmakers and law enforcers everywhere, all the time. The purpose of this essay is to describe the role of the internet and its involvement with crime and criminal behavior. This essay will describe specific examples of how the internet has aided criminal activity and highlight the types of crime that have received more notoriety because of the internet's ability to connect people anonymously.

Every second, citizens of the world enter cyber space to relay information, keep in contact with family and friends, and to complete a multitude of various tasks. The World Wide Web is a major staple in ensuring that individuals of all nationalities can perform all the necessary tasks in their lives. However, the negative aspects of the internet have been recently brought into the public eye. Social Networks such as Facebook and Twitter along with other popularly accessed websites such as Reddit, 4Chan, and Pinterest have become the subject of critique after a whirl of internet controversy arose.

It’s a far to familiar story. A child visiting a chat room, thinking he or she is making a new friend, gets to know someone who they think is another curious child like themselves. They decide to meet their new friend only to be raped and killed by another “Cyber- Pedophile”. It happens to adults as well, although children have always been vulnerable to victimization. Their trusting nature and naiveté make them perfect targets for perpetrators- both people they know and those they don’t. As children grow into adolescence, they remain vulnerable to victimization. Youth are often curious and eager to try new things. Many youth struggle with issues of rebellion and independence and often seek attention and affection from people outside the home, often by using computers. Today, an estimated 10 million children are using the Internet. By 2005,

The internet is an ever-evolving platform that more and more people use daily. Being so adaptable and ambiguous, people take advantage of the internet for productivity, information, and entertainment. While others take a darker turn, and take advantage of people and exploit their lack of knowledge, or commit crimes by taking advantage of the ambiguous nature of the internet. The internet is a key factor in the daily lives for billions of people around the world and should stay uncensored, for the entirety of its lifespan.

Social media. We have all heard of it. We have all raved about it at some point in our lives. There is no doubt; it plays an imperative part of people’s lives today – users are reliant on social media. It is great that Mark Zuckerberg reminds us to say, “Happy Birthday” to our friends. Yet, we have all seen the dangers it can cause. From identity fraud to cyberbullying - we become exposed to the dangers of the internet. Not only is it hackers and frauds that cause destruction, but social networking posts. Every day, you scroll through Facebook, or Instagram - liking, sharing and commenting on posts. What people don’t see is how words on a ‘status’ or ‘tweet’ can hurt someone. They can’t see that a person’s feelings behind the screens on a computer have been destroyed, because they can’t see what they don’t want to see.