Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, or Kik has become a popular way of making new friends or connecting with old friends. However, there is always a dark side to these sites, and it can turn out to be a nightmare for families across America when they have found out their child have become a victim of a child predator or cyber-bullying. These sites can be bait for predators that are targeting our uninformed youth daily. Every day somewhere in America a child predator gets arrested for child pornography or sexually abusing a minor. Parents should not only monitor their child’s behavior on social media sites, but they should also take a stand on age restriction 's laws on these sites and enforce safer sign up procedures because some parents …show more content…
However, parents and law enforcements can prevent this problem in the future. If more law enforcement offices around the country set up fake accounts to bait predators as they bait our youth it would help limit the amount of online child abuse. In addition, law enforcement and parents should push for laws that would prohibit sex offender’s form obtaining a social media profile, unless they have limited access. Furthermore, I believe sites like Facebook, which allow 13 year olds to have an account should limit their account access as well, because do not have a valid I.D… A photo I.D. should be required for age verification due to underage youth trying to obtain an account. A recent study founded that 59 percent of children are social networking by ten years old; although, 32 percent of parents feel confident about them being online (DAILY MAIL REPORTER). Earlier, I stated Facebook’s minimum age was 13 years old; therefore, 59 percent of our youth have accounts set up by age ten. Consequently, there is a poor age verification system that is set up by social media companies. These companies make millions of dollars in revenue each year, so there should be no issue with making their sites safe for our …show more content…
Therefore, to keep this from happening, we must talk to our youth and let them know it is okay to confess if they are being bullied. The victim’s parents may want to talk to the parents of the bully about the problem, unless they are becoming a threat then it should be reported to authorities. Our youth should not keep this a secret and let depression build over cyber bullying; however, they should talk with a parent or a school counselor. Additionally, parents should make sure their child is not sending messages that offend others. Thus, if your child is sending offensive messages; you should chastise them by taking away their device or ban their social media account and teach them the importance of cyber-bullying.
Families that have experienced the dark side of social media would stand for laws to protect our youth while online. If laws are not passed that should not stop parents from practicing safe Internet tips with their youth. Therefore, parents should not wait to inform their child the importance of not meeting strangers on-line or how harsh words can effect someone; however, if it is not said in person. Parents should also monitor their child’s actions online until they have become an appropriate age. More importantly, we should encourage our youth to set aside social media for a day and do something
The expansion of the Internet infrastructure across the world, has brought an increased audience. Which has provided expanded markets for businesses and exploited new opportunities. There are virtually countless social sites and media used by individuals to access and share experiences , content, insights, and perspectives. Parents today tend to believe they should spy on their kids online activity. I argue parents should respect the privacy of a child's social life and his/her internet activity.
Social networking sites leave opportunities for vulnerability, however, I don’t believe many youths are an easy target. Using ethos, pathos and logos individuals can create their own reality to relate to the internet world who they think are and how they wish to be seen. In mediated publics such as Facebook and Instagram, the user has complete control of his or her profile and is the only one who can allow content about his/herself to be shared. It is my personal belief that as technology has evolved many people have taken to fabricating some truths here and there and omitting details to give an ideal representation of who they are without incriminating themselves or leaving themselves vulnerable for mistreatment. The fantasy of what is or could be is more desirable than reality. In the past few years, privacy settings have been adapted to cover the growing technological advances to keep users safe from online predators.
Unfortunately, children are being exposed the most on social media and are oblivious to it. From the moment children are born into the world of technology, their lives are being shared on social media. In Nancy Jo Sales’ book, American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers, she went around the country conducting interviews, researching the impacts of social media, and observing different social situations. According to many studies done by internet security firms, thousands of pictures of a child will be posted of them by age five. Almost ninety-five percent of kids will have pictures surfaced of them by age two. Never before have the ups and downs of growing up been present for everybody to see (Sales 32). Every monumental
Cyber bullying and online crime must be put at a stop. Parents and teachers should play a great role in regulating what their kids are doing on social media. Parents give their children smart phones, tablets, and computers but they fail to convey the proper way of using those tools. They should teach them the rules of being on social media by telling them from right to wrong. Parents don’t give their children a car to use without telling them the proper rules of how to drive the car. If they don’t teach them how to drive the car then that child wouldn’t know what to do about his or her car and may lead to an accident. This is the same way of how parents should also teach their kids of how to regulate on social media. There are many privacy settings on these social network sites which some kids are not aware off or simply do not care about. We should put an aware of these settings to them and teach them from right to wrong. Parents and teachers should also encourage their kids to come talk to them if they are facing any type of
The internet is part of many minors’ daily lives in the USA. Though it can be a positive, and powerful experience where they can learn and socialize and find entertainment, it can expose them to online risks. They can be harassed, bullied, solicited for sex, and find themselves knee deep in illegal content that causes them problems. and bullying, sexual solicitation, and exposure to problematic and illegal content. The risks are similar to off-line risks, but there are more opportunities for at risk minors to encounter them, and makes it more difficult for adults to realize they need help.
Generally, social networking provides online sexual predators with an easy gateway to youths. Users of online social media services tend to share copious amounts of personal information on online profiles, these same users control who can or cannot see their information by utilizing privacy settings. The problem with these “privacy settings” is that they are often hard to manipulate, leaving a multitude of online profiles vulnerable to often explicit offers from online sexual predators. Lacking the ability to protect their information properly, users are in jeopardy of being contacted by sexual predators. In fact, “[d]uring the years prior to the explosive expansion of social networks, most online sexual predators attempted to contact youths through chat rooms and message boards. In recent years, however, predators are increasingly targeting minors over social networking services”, showing that social networking directly puts youths in peril (Guo, 626). This sheds light on the fact that social networking is basically a way to herd youths and display them ...
With the advancement in technology in a short matter of time it has impacted the world in many ways such as how the world communicates and our life styles. One of the many revolutionary inventions or evolutions is called social networking sites (SNS). Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and many more, are where people gather in the internet, create a personalized profile about themselves, and interact with people around the world. With the lack of parental supervision between the ages of fourteen to seventeen, which makes one of largest demographics using social networking sites, these teens could be subjected to mature elements. Young teens between the ages of fourteen to seventeen should not be allowed to have a profile on social networking sites because they do not have the capability to make proper logical decisions.
Adults are easily accessible to the goods and bads on social media, compared to children that are less capable to realize what is convenient for them. As a result, children have become victims of cyberbullying via social media. One of the major problem of cyberbullying had to do with the fact that “[t]he Internet provides more than ample opportunities for children to bully one another anonymously. Kids can embark on impressive and terrifying bullying campaigns, drawing in dozens of other completely anonymous children. Even a child who never does anything risky online is at risk of being bullied”, (Woda,2015, p.32). Children are expose to more cyberbullying in social media than in their normal everyday lives. According to Woda Tim, (2015) “a 2013 Pew Research Center study, indicates that 20.8 percent of kids ages eight to ten report that they have been cyberbullied at least once in their life, while 88 percent of social media-using teens say they have witnessed someone being mean or cruel on a social media site”, (32). Parents should focus more when their kids are using phones or computers in the house and it should use in public areas of the house, where parents can be aware of what their kids are doing in social media. They must use a “Parental intelligence” with their children and know that kids are the more vulnerable to be involved in cyberbullying. It is painful to see how everyday in the news kids are committing
Social media has only been easily accessible on our decade, but has boomed in popularity and user use. It has taken over our society and culture providing a new channel to connect with the world in real-time. While, social media has many advantages -- especially in providing resources and knowledge to the public, it has many downsides as well, including not providing enough protection for our youths. As such, we see the rise of addiction to social media, cyberbullying, and negative body images. We need to push our government, schools, and families to educate our youth on internet usage. With technology’s increasing growth rate and that fact that technology will be our future, it is pertinent to teach our children how to use social media in a responsible manner.
There has been controversy as to whether parents should limit the use of social media by teenagers. Teenagers feel that there is no need to limit the use of their social media networking, but on the other hand, parents should feel the need to limit their use and also keep track of their teen’s social networking. Social media allows students to be connected with their peers, teens who post positive status are more likely to be involved in extracurricular activities, and for many teens putting up “selfies” is a self confidence boost; however, too much social media can affect students GPA in school, cyber bullying can affect social health. Social media networks can give out personal information. Social media sites such as Facebook are one of the most popular social media sites that has 700,000-750,000 members joining each day.
Social media is described as content created and shared by individuals on the web using freely available websites that allow users to create and post their own images, video and text information and then share that with either the entire internet or just a select group of friends (Affilorama, 2012). They are more like a website allowing you to express your daily activities, beliefs, locations, likes, dislikes, photos, music, etc. They are used by creating a profile, and logging in through either the website, or apps now used on smartphones, or any portable device with Wi-Fi connection. Although most social media networks are directed towards adults and young adults, young children are getting into these websites as well. There are usually age limits but there isn’t a certainty that all the users provided their actual age, allowing whoever wants to be a member of these sites to bypass an age limit “security” procedure. Facebook and MySpace require users to be at least 13, but they have no practical way to verify ages, and many young users prete...
Social media has token a huge step from when it first started. The more the years go by there are new trends and new technology that continues to grow. As the newer technology comes out, the younger the kids are getting their hands on the new gadgets. As a result our younger generation begins to get into the internet having their own accounts to multiple social media websites. Kids don’t realize what they can get themselves into when they get an account, it can lead them to older people (child molesters, Perverts, ect.). Since 2011, teen Twitter use has grown significantly from 16% to 24% (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2013). These social media accounts can make it easier to cyber bully there victim. Most importantly it takes away their
Social media although a great tool can become an addiction ultimately affecting our lives and state of mind. That is why we need to limit the amount of time and information we share on social networks. Although the internet is a tool full of good and bad available to everyone, teenagers and young adults are more prone to falling into the traps of the internet. People also abuse social media and overuse it every day because they are concerned with what is happening every hour. Social media is a tool not a necessity and should never be abused or used as a diary because it could result in unwanted consequences that can hurt us in the future.
Adults are more capable enough to know what is good and bad on social media, comparing with children that are less capable to realize what is convenient for them. As a result of that many children are being victims of cyberbullying on social media. One of the major problem of cyberbullying had to do with the fact that “The Internet provides more than ample opportunities for children to bully one another anonymously. Kids can embark on impressive and terrifying bullying campaigns, drawing in dozens of other completely anonymous children. Even a child who never does anything risky online is at risk of being bullied”, (Woda,2015, p.32). Children are expose to more cyberbullying in social media than in their normal lives. According to Woda Tim, (2015) “a 2013 Pew Research Center study, indicates that 20.8% of kids ages eight to 10 report that they have been cyberbullied at least once in their life, while 88% of social media-using teens say they have witnessed someone being mean or cruel on a social media site”, (32). Parents should focus more when their kids are using phones or computers in the house and it should use in public areas of the house, where parents can be aware of what their kids are doing in social media. They must use a “Parental intelligence” with their children and know that kids are the more vulnerable to be involved in cyberbullying. It is painful to see how everyday in the news Many kids are killing
I believe that the key to safe and secure social media begins with proper use. Illegal and highly discouraged activities should not be tolerated and consequences should be mandatory. In terms of social media use in teens and young adults, it is important for parents to teach their children what acceptable use of computers and social media is so that they can understand the potential danger and all minors should be monitored while using the Internet to ensure safe usage is being followed. Regardless of age, all users of social media should think twice before clicking the post button about what unintended consequences that post could have.