There is no doubt that living in the twenty-first century we have seen many remarkable technological advances. But how are these changes affecting our day to day routine? As internet is becoming more and more popular, the perspective of young individuals is changing drastically as to how they look at life. In this era, the new generation is not only using the World Wide Web as a source to gain knowledge, but a basis for social networking. These sites include facebook, myspace, twitter, eHarmony, second life and many more, that make it easily accessible for people to become friends with others across the world and share information about themselves via the web. With the use of such networking, people are getting worried, trying to figure out if the uses of such sites have more positive impact then negative.
With the creation of sites such as facebook, it allows individuals to talk to and become friends with others across the world. That doesn’t sound like such a bad idea, right? However, many young teens are using such sites to create a false identity or exposing way too much information about them online. In the article “Growing up online” by pbs, they explain how a very shy fourteen year old girl named Jessica Hunter created a fictitious character online who was a goth and a model named Autumn Edows. With this, she posted provocative pictures. Her parents had no idea of this, because the internet, in a way, gives total freedom to do whatever. Also, with the development of many programs, it makes it harder for parents to monitor what their kids are doing. C.J. Pascoe states "They're [teenagers] able to have a private space, even while they're still at home. They're able to communicate with their friends and have an entire social life outside of the purview of their parents, without actually having to leave the house." Parents also fear online sexual predators. There are many creepy predators out there, which just like Jessica Hunter, create fake profiles and fake personas, to lure young boys and girls. Cyberbullying, however, is amongst the biggest fear parents have. It enables bullies not only to terrorize the kids at a school, but once they get home as well. At home, the kids should feel safe but with the cyberbullying they are being consistently attacked. Ryan Halligan witnessed this, which eventually led him hang himself on October 2003. The internet is easily accessible to everyone today, so what can we do to avoid such situations and keep our kids safe? Danah Boyd, a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society says, "You have a generation faced with a society with fundamentally different properties, thanks to the Internet. It's a question for us of how we teach ourselves and our children to live in a society where these properties are fundamentally a way of life. This is public life today." Like everything, in social networking have many positive aspects as well.
Social Networking is all about communicating with others. Obama did just that during his presidential election. With the aide of Facebook, myspace, twitter, and MyBo, Obama showed the powers of social networking that is facing our generation. President Obama’s main strategy through his election was the web and networking sites, which he did not deter from during the election. His networking site, http://www.my.barackobama.com/, known as MyBO took a completely different route, to spread the word through donations, hosting private parties, fundraisers and many more. This gave them a sense of feeling that they had an involvement and were apart of this historical election. McCain’s online sites, unlike Obama’s didn’t really let the individuals feel like they were part of it because there wasn’t much that you could do on his sites. David All, a Republican New-media consultant stated “You have an entire generations of folks under ago of 25 no longer using emails, not even using Facebook; a majority are using text messaging. I get Obama’s text messages, and everyone is exactly as it should be. It is never pointless, it is always worth reading, and it has an action for you to take. You can have hundreds of recipients on a text message. You have hundreds of people trying to change the world in 160 characters or less. What’s’ the SMS strategy for John McCain? None.” Obama’s primarily focused on the younger generations while McCain’s main supporters were the older generation. This also played heavily in the election. Through the use of such networking sites and the support from the younger generation, Obama was successful. The younger generation wants to be active and help promote change for the better, this was Obama’s tactic. He gave the voice in their hands thus leading to his success.
Another networking site that is promoting positive steps is known as Second Life. Second life is a 3-D virtual playground to have a life outside reality. It enables players to create anything they want and explore their surroundings. However, lately, networking source is beings used through schools, and a variety of programs. The game is helping many overcome their disabilities or even abuse. It gives these individuals a world to pretty much start over again, away from people’s judgments and theirs problems that they may be facing in actuality. It helps them to network with others, learning valuable socialize skills, life lessons. A project called live2give was created by nine adults suffering from cerebral palsy. They used second life to create a forum where they can interact with others and experience being with others without any judgment. June-Marie Mahay who works with them at an adult day-care center in Mattapan, Massachusetts says, “Many of the real-world challenges are bypassed in Second Life….They felt stigmatized by their disabilities, (which) kept them from the normal social integration we take for granted. Second Life removes both these things.” A british organization called ARCI helps abused children in Portuguese cope with their problems and introduce them to a world where they can gain valuable skills. Philip Rosedale, founder of second life wanted to create a world where anyone can feel safe and find something that will help them overcome anything. He said “The generalized uses of the system are really quite powerful. The high degree of emotional and personal presence you get in Second Life enables things like you get in Brigadoon, a simulation of what it's like to be in the presence of another human being.” This networking game is working wonders and is used for pretty much everyone.
As you can see, there are many different uses of internet and social networking groups. The powers of networking are immense. It is a world for the younger generations to explore anything that they want. It is a place where one can interact with others, and share knowledge. As everything, it has its negatives as well as its positives.
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