Talking to Strangers Online

How is the audience to know if these are common problems or infrequently occurring outliers? She states that “while privacy settings allow users to restrict who may view their profiles and group affiliations, such settings are rarely enabled by the user.” What does the word “rarely” mean? This certainly does not fit the STAR criteria of sufficiency, typicality, accuracy, and relevance. While persuasive to a select audience, Fleming narrowly focuses her argument and only gives a one-sided narrative of the negative effects of social networks. Dana Fleming’s Pathos, or emotional appeal, is great, but her credibility (Ethos) is hurt by only considering one side of the debate.

The internet has created an entirely new world of social communications particularly for youths. There are no more barriers. Family, friends, young and old may now stay in touch with just about everyone, anywhere in the world through the use of email, text messaging, web chat, and instant messaging. Although, most interactions are friendly and in good nature, there are some that are not. The use of technology as a tool to antagonize, torment and intimidate others is now a widespread problem. Sadly, this form of bullying like all others is most common among children and young adults. Research done by Cox Communications on children between 13 thru 18 year-olds, 25 percent said they were cyber-bullied whether online or by cell phone (Cox Com. 2009). Also in 2007, the National Crime Prevention Council reported cyber-bullying as a problem that affected approximately half of all American teens. Since it is popular among this group of American teens, then it is safe look at some of possible reason cyber bullies of this age group are encouraged to take part in such activity.

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

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

While this technology held out the promise of a new era for interconnectedness, information sharing and education, it also came with a dark underbelly, as bigots and anti-Semites found it a useful tool for propagating hatred. The web sites they created have evolved over time and with the technology, yet they continue to be a very effective tool for spreading hatred, giving the bigots the ability to reach a potential audience of millions. Now, this ability to spread hateful sentiments electronically has reached new dimensions. It has taken on new life in the form of cyber bullying, or the ability to use (and abuse) the fairly new technologies of instant messaging, cell phones, texting, and online social networking to harass and intimidate. Nowhere has this new form of bullying been more prevalent than in middle and high schools. After all, it is teenage students who are most facile with these new technologies and who are most likely to employ them in a group social setting, such as school or camp. Indeed, the Internet, cell phones and other technological paraphernalia play a central role in the social lives of nearly all adolescents. While much of their online activity may be harmless enough, it has also provided an opening for would-be schoolyard bullies to spread innuendo, falsehoods and slander to dozens, even hundreds, of classmates with the touch of a button or click of a mouse. The real-world consequences of cyber bullying have been widely

Sally Arthur wrote the article "Making Friends Through The Internet". She stated "If you are dealing with someone who is not forthcoming about their identity, you don't know his or her motive for doing so" (Arthur). This would be true if the sentence was flipped around too. Kids are all taught not to give out personal information to people we do not know. Hopefully, adults do this too. Users may think "Well I know how to handle the situation, and nothing will go wrong anyways, so it's okay if I give them my address". In the end, the person on the other side of the screen could be completely lying about their identity. It may seem that they are a 22 year old girl who goes to Cal Poly in California, but they could be a 72 year old man that never even went to college. If someone is not giving any of their information, that too could be a warning sign that they are not who they say they are, which means that one probably does not know the real

It’s no coincidence that a 16-year-old teenage girl, who thought she was meeting with her teenage pen pal, met with a 43-year old man and came up missing the next morning. It’s also no coincidence that a 13-year-old homosexual boy, who was constantly harassed with cruel messages online, hung himself last night. CNN reports that teenagers in the US spend approximately nine hours on social media a day. That’s over 250 total hours of average social media usage a month! Meanwhile, within the countless hours that the typical teenager spends online, it only takes one second for trouble to transpire. The large amount of time that teenagers spend online paired with the millions of users on major networks leave the door for social media abuse wide open.

Parents and schools play a critical role in the growing period of the child. The concern and exhortation from parents and schools are the most important factor that prevents teens from addicting to network and causing cyberbullying. “Fifth-one coded statements from stakeholders stated that children could gain access to online environments through a series of gate way” (Martin 169). Adolescents can connect to the network through a variety of methods, so it is impractical to warn only in schools.

“Anonymity breeds meanness.” Unfortunately, these words by Sam Altman account for much of today’s online conflicts. Cyberbullying, hacking, and offensive statements have only recently been recognized for their potential harm, and according to a global survey conducted by YouGov, one out of every five teenagers have encountered online abuse, which is more common than drug abuse at the same age (Elgot 11). This behavior is nearly as ancient as the internet itself, but as technology evolves to become more linked to our daily lives, the effects are drastically amplified. After School is a mobile application that enables high school students to publicly post anonymous messages accompanied with a picture regarding subjects ranging anywhere from an innocent joke to sexual harassment. Following its initial release in November of 2014, the application gained rapid popularity among American teenagers. Within a month’s

In this article the author discusses about the harmful actives that the internet dose to the youth. With two main points; cyber bullying and sexting, the author briefly discusses what they are and what threat that occurs from them. The article is useful to me because it shows the harmfulness on what could happen on the internet. However, this article is very vague and lakes a certain amount of information to achieve its point.

A study of Facebook profiles from students at Carnegie Mellon University revealed that about 800 profiles included current resident and at least two classes being studied, theoretically allowing viewers to know the precise location of individuals at specific times.[4] AOL attracted controversy over its instant messenger AIM which permits users to add ‘buddies’ without their knowing, and therefore track when a user is online.[4] Concerns have also been raised over the relative ease for people to read private messages or e-mails on social networking sites.[13]

A social networking website is made popular by a technologically inclined culture which populates the website and has a need to be social online; although not everyone wants to jump on this platform of communication. As the amount of people using a particular social networking website increases, so too will the website's popularity and it’s value in the marketplace resulting in attracting a greater share of the population. Consequently utilizing a domino effect technique. The people who populate the site will become popular at greater levels as they increase their friend base due to the current way Facebook and now Google+ links friends that are a degree or two away. Facebook constantly reminds a user of “People You May Know” even if you don't, but maybe someone in your current circle or association of current friends do. The whole concept of a social networking website is based on popularity so it is no mystery as to why people who use it get the idea to do a “online self-presentation,”(Mehdizadeh 357). A presentation that can be totally honest only including their close friends and family(people who know them best) or one that can be narcissistic in nature where a

* What makes social network sites unique is not that they allow individuals to meet strangers, but rather that they enable users to articulate and make visible their social networks. This can result in connections between individuals that would not otherwise be made, but that is often not the goal, and these meetings are frequently between "latent ties" (Haythornthwaite, 2005) who share some offline connection. On many of the large SNSs, participants are not necessarily "networking" or looking to meet new people; instead, they are primarily communicating with people who are already a part of their extended social network. To emphasize this articulated social network as a critical organizing feature of these sites, we label them "social network sites."

Becoming a teenger is a life changing experience. Between the teenage years from 13-18 years old, teens have seen problems on social media. Cyberbullying been such a huge impact that never seems to stop. Cyberbullies continues harassing victims which have caused severe risks for them. These risks include suicide, depression, loneliness, etc. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out if the cyberbullies are real or not, some can be anonymous. Social media and technology is what all teenagers use 24/7, some are not careful with what they put online. Due to social media, Cyberbullying has increased causing victims at risks.

For such a long time, physical bullying has been the largest problem schools and parents had to face with their children, but now another form of bullying has arisen; cyber bullying. In society today, teens are drawn cell phones, laptops, and other technological advancements. Social media is a way for many teens and adolescents to interact with one another and share countless happenings of their personal lives. Cyber bullying occurs when individuals use the internet to send or comment cruel and unnecessary messages to another. In its various forms cyber bullying includes, indirect and direct harassment, posting inappropriate pictures, impersonating another being, or just being plain cruel. Although anyone can become a victim of cyber bullying, improper use of the internet can further induce harassment, due to the adolescents desire to use modern day technologies. The harassers could be classmates, online “friends’’, or anonymous users. One barrier that is difficult to overcome is determining who is responsible for the attacks online, because many bullies hide behind fake usernames or profiles to protect their real identity, which is commonly known as “hiding behind a screen”. (Bonanno 2013). The motives for a cyber-bully are never clear, some might say