The internet is full of online predators, bullies, hackers, and other evil do-ers. I'm a member of the popular website Tumblr (and it's the website I did my social media project on), and while I've never received a hatefully bullying message, I've seen plenty of members receive them without really any incentive except to be mean. I've read anonymous messages commenting about people's weight, looks, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and so much more. What truly baffles me is why do they do it? Why hide behind a computer screen and torment someone you don't even know-- or someone you do know? In lieu of recent cyberbullying cases, young teenagers have committed suicide due to the bullying they have received over the internet. It is deeply saddening and I truly feel laws should be put in place for it to stop. I think anonymous feature on Tumblr messaging should be removed and Facebook should be stricter about online bullying or more serious about their "report" feature. Below I found a report about cyberbullying and it was extremely disturbing just how high the students reported they had been bullied online.
Another dark side of the internet is called "the deep web." I was never even aware that it was a thing until a recent Time magazine article I read. I was shocked. Especially by a website called "The Silk Road" where users can buy and sell drugs, prostitutes, and murder using their own form of money called bitcoins. It is so hard to police these types of things because people are so intelligent with the internet now. A seemingly normal young man ran this whole operation, when he could have been using his intelligence with technology for good.
The internet can be a dark place, but you have to avoid it. I think in any situation this remains true. Don't feed into negativity-- unfriend, block, or even if you have to remove yourself from the website, you need to do it.
Your reflections about the dangers that exist on Internet are all things I have been consistently warned about ever since I first started using a computer when I was little. I think that cyber bullying is a huge problem in our society today and it's also something that parents have a really hard time controlling and protecting their kids from. A recent cyber bullying trend I came across is one that middle schoolers and younger kids are involved in where they post videos of themselves on YouTube with the caption "Pretty or Ugly" and other kids respond with degrading and insulting comments. This type of behavior needs to stop. Kids need to have their confidence built up and they need to be told they are interesting and unique. I can only hope that by the time I have kids there are more effective ways to protect them from cyber bullying.
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