Blog Project

Sexting

One thing that people should be aware of when using new media is that any information you put out there, stays out there. This is a big issue for many young adults and teenagers because they don't know that some of the things they put out there can be permanent. An example of this is sexting. Sexting is “sending, receiving, or forwarding sexual photos or sexually suggestive messages through text message or email” (Lohmann).  Many young, naïve, kids send naked pictures of themselves to their boyfriend or girlfriend not knowing that the picture they just sent can get around to anybody, and they can't do anything about it, can’t delete it, and can’t reverse it. “Once a photo is out, there's no way of knowing how many people have saved it, tagged it, shared it, etc. Unfortunately the photo could re-surface years after it was taken and posted.” 28% of teens admitted to sending naked photos of themselves to other teens. (Lohmann) Sexting can be a very big problem if it gets in the wrong hands. It can lead to getting bullied or harassed. Many teens may feel like they're caught in a trap with no way out. There has been many cases where teens felt this way because of sexting and ended their life because of it. There was a case in Ohio where an 18 year old girl named Jessie Logan took her own life after a nude picture of her was sent around by email.  “She had sent nude pictures of herself to a boyfriend. When they broke up, he sent them to other high school girls. The girls were harassing her, calling her a slut and a whore. She was miserable and depressed, afraid even to go to school” (NBCnews). It got to the point where it was so bad that she felt there was no escaping and ended her own life. Sexting is something that teens do as a spur of a moment thing and don't think about the consequences. People need to be aware of the consequences and realize that sexting is a dangerous thing.

Twitter

                Twitter was introduced to the public around 2006, and spread like wildfire after that. As of 2014, Twitter has more than 271 million monthly active users worldwide (Doyle). People should be aware of twitter when using new media for many reasons. Twitter is a great marketing source for many people that are starting up businesses or trying to make their business better known. “When used properly, Twitter is a powerful marketing tool for companies to keep potential and existing customers up to date on their products and offers and for general public relations” (Everett). Businesses can make twitter accounts and tweet information about their products or companies. It is a very inexpensive and productive way to put themselves out there. Also twitter keeps people connected all around the world. It is very easy to talk to someone that lives far away from you, even someone that lives in another country. Before people had to pay just to make a phone call to someone who lived in a different country. But with twitter you can tweet or message someone anywhere for free. Twitter makes it quick and easy. Another great thing about twitter and staying connected is that it can connect you to a loved one or someone you haven’t seen in a long time. Back in 2011 a homeless man named Daniel Morales made a twitter account to help him find his 27 year old daughter that he lost contact with. “He posted his cell phone number, Sarah’s name and a photo of her at age 16. The message spread through his Twitter followers and through their social networks. It reached her and she called him the next day” (Doyle). Twitter can be a very helpful thing for users and people should be aware of it when using new media.

Wikipedia

                The more people rely on the internet for information the more dangerous it gets. Instead of students getting information for a research paper or other school work at the library in books, all they have to do is type the topic in on Google and billions of website will come up about that topic. One of the first pages that will pop up when you type something in on Google is Wikipedia. Wikipedia was created in 2001 as an online encyclopedia website. “As of March 2014, Wikipedia has more than 475 million unique visitors each month and is the 6th most visited website in the world” (Doyle). Many students use Wikipedia as there number one website to get information and this can be a very bad thing. One of the greatest strengths of the site is that all of the information on it, is pooled information, “however, until corrections are made, the site may be full of errors” (Doyle). Students rely too much on Wikipedia. This is a problem because Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, even people that don’t have an account can edit this site. There has been several problems with ‘hackers’ on Wikipedia before. For example, Jeremy Renner’s Wikipedia was once hacked, and it said “Jeremy Lee Renner is an American actor, film producer, musician, and velociraptor” (Harle). Can you spot the mistake? Of course he is not a velociraptor (dinosaur). Hacks like this one on Wikipedia makes the site look very unreliable. Thus meaning any other information on this website could be hacked or incorrect. Wikipedia isn’t always as accurate as people think it is. People need to be aware that all the information they find on the internet is not all correct.

Cyberbullying

                Think 10 years ago, kids in elementary schools, middle schools, or high schools were getting bullied everywhere. But after that 6 hour school day they could at least go home and get away from all the mean kids and bullies, they had an escape. Ever since social media came out a new problem arose, and that was cyberbullying. People need to be aware of cyberbullying when using new media, especially social media. “Cyberbullying is the use of technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person” (Kidshealth). Cyberbullying is getting very common because it gives a way for bullies to hide. They hide behind their computers and harass other kids because they’re safe. They think they have more power, like no one is stopping them because they aren’t bullying face to face. “About 1 in 4 teens have been the victims of cyberbullying, and about 1 in 6 admit to having cyberbullied someone” (Kidshealth). Any kids that have access to the internet are at risk of cyberbullying. There has been many instances where young kids have taken their lives because they were victims of cyberbullying. In 2006 a 13 year old girl named Megan Meier took her own life after getting cyberbullied by a “boy” (who seemed to have never existed) named Josh on Myspace. “Josh contacted Megan through her page on MySpace.com, the social networking Web site. On Oct. 15, 2006, Josh suddenly turned mean. He called Megan names, and later they traded insults for an hour. Josh wrote, ‘The world would be a better place without you.’ Sobbing, Megan ran into her bedroom closet. Her mother found her there, hanging from a belt” (Maag). Young kids are getting harassed and bullies at all times because of social media, there is no getting away from cyberbullying. People need to be aware of the dangers of cyberbullying when using new media.

 

Online Relationships

                Many people have a difficult time finding a relationship out in the real world, so they turn to online dating. Online dating can be a great way to meet someone, but it can also be a trap, lie, or put you in a lot of danger. There are many ways to meet someone online, some people meet others on social networking sites like Facebook, and others sign up to online dating websites, like Match.com or EHarmony.com. In 2014 the percent of males that are online dating users was 52.4 %, and female online dating users was 47.6%. Even 17% of marriages in the last year started from online dating (Statistic Brain). Online dating can help a lot of people find there perfect match because “the Internet provides a wider selection of men and women. With the various profiles shared online, you can gain access to means of narrowing down your search to suit your needs” (Vyhmeister). But on the other hand online dating can also be a very dangerous thing. People aren’t always who they say they are. There are many people that hide behind their computers and pose as someone they aren’t, sometimes for no reason what’s so ever, just to scam people. There is a show called Catfish on MTV that shows how many people are doing this and scamming people, it makes people realize that the internet isn’t always a safe place and you don’t always know who is on the other side of that computer. There also has been many instances where online dating turned into having a stalker. There was a case in where a 30 year old woman named Genoveva Nunez-Figueroa from Thousand Oaks, California “had to be rescued by firefighters on Sunday after she became stuck eight feet down in a chimney” (Mullins). The house she was trying to get into was the man that she had been dating online for 6 months. The man elegantly broke it off and the woman wasn’t too happy about it. It got to the point where the woman tried to break into his house. Online dating can go too far sometimes and can get dangerous quick. It is important to be careful when online dating and not to give out too much information. Online dating can be a good thing from people struggling to find a good match, but people also need to be aware of the dangers of it too.

Works Cited

"14 Funniest Hacked Wikipedia Pages." Student Beans: Student Discounts, Free Stuff, ID, Jobs & Mag. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
"Cyberbullying." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Ed. Larissa Hirsch. The Nemours Foundation, 01 June 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
Doyle. Twitter Powerpoint. N.d.
Doyle. Wikipedia Powerpoint. N.d.
Maag, Christopher. "A Hoax Turned Fatal Draws Anger but No Charges." The New York Times. The New York Times, 27 Nov. 2007. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
"Online Dating Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
"Positive and Negative Sides of Online Dating." Positive and Negative Sides of Online Dating. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
"The Positives & Negatives of Twitter | Chris J. Everett." Chris J. Everett: All Things SEO. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
"Woman Gets Stuck in a Chimney While Stalking Online Date." E! Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.

Blog 3

Halloween is one of my favorite holiday because I love scary things, especially horror movies. Every time a new horror movie comes out I have to see it. Since Halloween was last week I decided to go to the movies and see the new movie Annabelle that came out at Clifton Park Regal Cinema. When Annabelle first came out I didn’t really want to see it because I figured it would be like many of the bad scary movies, where it’s suspenseful throughout the movie then at the very end it gets moderately scary, and then it ends. But my boyfriend’s sister’s boyfriend said he saw it and it scared him shitless, so I had to go see it. Also this movie was a prequel to the movie The Conjuring, which is one of my favorite horror movies.  A few days before Halloween I went to see it with a group of my friends. The movie was basically about a doll that was possessed and haunted a family, and the family couldn't get away from this doll. The movie was pretty boring and kind of suspenseful for the first hour, and the last 20 minutes (the ending) was extremely predictable and, like a said it would be, moderately scary. The ending had a “happy ending” and at the very, very end, tied into the movie The Conjuring. When it comes to scary movies I do not prefer happy endings, for me it ruins the scary aspect of the movie. The movie Annabelle was exactly how I thought it would be, predictable. Maybe I just don’t get scared as easily as other people do from movies (apparently like my boyfriend’s sister’s boyfriend). If you’re someone that gets scared easily then I recommend seeing this movie, but if you’re like me and don’t, then I recommend you wait until another horror movie comes out.

Blog 2

YouTube was created in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. By September of 2005 YouTube had its first 1 million hit video. That just shows how fast YouTube blew up, and became the number 1 video website. This was a great thing for people who quickly needed to look up educational videos, “how to” videos, and even funny videos for entertainment. Personally I love YouTube and I use it all the time, mostly for entertainment and music, but also for school. YouTube quickly exploded and people started uploading videos like crazy. In 2010, more video were uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than all 3 US television networks had created in 60 years. This was an incredible thing, but giving the users the ability to upload whatever they wanted also led to a lot of material that were deemed offensive by viewers, which was a very dangerous thing. YouTube was forced to remove many videos that were offensive to many viewers. YouTube made something that allowed users to flag any videos as containing porn, mature content or graphic violence, depicting illegal acts or being racially or ethnically offensive, and then a video may be removed. I do not agree with this method YouTube uses. I don’t think YouTube should be deleting videos that are put up by users. For example the Dave Foley beheading video that was removed. I don’t think that it should have been removed because yes even though it is horrifying to see, it shows the reality that is going on. Honestly before I read this article in class I had no idea who James Foley was and what was going on about it. If the video was still up I’m sure I would have known more about it. YouTube taking videos down like that one is trying to shield society from the bad stuff that is going on outside of the US, but when in reality those videos should be informing us. I do think that yes some of these videos are too harsh or are offensive to some people. What I think YouTube should do about it is have a disclaimer before the video starts so people are warned and don’t have to watch it if they don’t want to. Another example of censorship on YouTube I found was how YouTube is removing protesting videos. “You Tube is complying with thousands of requests from governments to censor and remove videos that show protests and other examples of citizens simply asserting their rights, while also deleting search terms by government mandate.” (Watson, Paul “Government Orders YouTube to Censor Protest Videos”, Infowars, May 20, 2011) This is basically taking away people’s rights. I think that YouTube should be a place for people to share what they want to share, and when it does come down to things that may be inappropriate or offensive then there should be a disclaimer. 

Works Cited

"Government Orders You Tube To Censor Protest Videos." Infowars. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014.

Blog Prompt Assignment #1

The internet: A combination of millions of computer networks sending and receiving data from all over the world, with competing interest joined by a common purpose, but with no common owner. No common owner which means no one in charge, which means no rules. Freedom to do whatever you want, that could be really fun, and really dangerous. I am extremely grateful for the internet and I think it has improved society greatly, but I also think that it has done much harm on society.

Think about how many times you use the internet in one day. For me, I never stop using the internet when it comes to social media, homework, shopping, and even just listening to music. The internet has definitely improved society for multiple reasons. One of those reasons is email. Email was by far the most reported use of the Internet by both sighted and visually impaired users. Some experts have estimated the number of e-mail messages that were sent in the year 2000 as 6.9 trillion. (Bermant, Charles. "Net Becomes Everyday Tool." PC World, March 2, 2000) Only 15% of American adults do not use the Internet or email nowadays. Using email is one of the easiest ways to get a hold of someone around the world. Another way that the internet improved society is the use of search engines, and the most famous one Google. Google was created by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and the name wasn’t originally google, it was Backrub. Which is kind of funny to think about now, imagine everyone calling Google, Backrub. Googles mission was to organize an infinite amount of web info, which it did. I would have no idea where I would be without Google today. I use it every day, for music, pictures, and even looking up the definition of words. Google is an amazing thing that came out of the Internet. Another great thing that came out of the internet is Social Media. For example Facebook, which is one of the most popular out there. Facebook has helped people with a lot of things. One of those things being helping people land a job. Facebook can be used for employers by using it to determine who the best candidates are. Also it helped people get a degree, a study found that students who were active on Facebook were less likely to drop out of school. Social Media and the internet has been a great improvement for society.

A lot of great things did come out of the internet, but there has also been some not so great things that came out of it too, which has done much harm on society. The internet has made it much easier for people to be bullied on social media. People can harass and/or gang up on one person even easier than they could in a school environment. Things like Facebook, Myspace, twitter and Instagram, has made it easy for bullies to hide behind their computer and bully kids, hiding their identities. Another thing that has harmed our society is how easy it is for someone to steal your identity on the internet. Any information you put out on the internet can make it extremely easy for someone to steal, even just stating your date of birth and where you were born. It’s amazing how the littlest information you put out on the internet can affect you. The internet is an amazing thing but can be very harmful, it’s something that everyone has to be careful on, especially with personal information.

Work Cited

"How the Internet is Changing Everyday Tasks." How the Internet is Changing Everyday Tasks. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2014. <http://www10.org/program/society/stephens/stephens.html>.

Mini Assignment 2

I have never blogged before, and I actually don't know too much about blogging either. I suppose blogging can be pretty useful for me. I think that blogging will be a good way for me to express myself more. I also think it'll help me with my writing skills. It will help me express my opinion on different topics, and it'll also show me other peoples opinions. I will start to learn what I agree with and what I disagree with. I think blogging will interesting and a good learning experience.