Mutual Friends Don’t Mean You Should Be-Friend

A young girl of about eight sat hunched over the family laptop, creating a skype account. After faking her age and forgetting to apply privacy settings, she received a call from a user called “SexyT11” and due to the excitement of it all, accepted the call. The man on the other end was not only greatly over 13 (the fake age the girl had set) but also stark naked. As surprising as this may seem, this girl is not the only one to have had such an experience.

This website suggests that such horrifying experiences can be linked to lack of overall awareness and something called over-friending. Underlying the words “over friending” is the idea of adding those you wouldn’t normally trust with the information that is posted on most social media sites. According to this source, adding everyone you have ever come in contact with and their mutual friends leaves you vulnerable to dangerous people and possible predators. When a select group of 8th grade students from the english class 8-4JRa, 6 out of 11 people reveal that they have made the mistake of adding someone they don’t know or over-friending. ”

Shaleigh Harrington, another Grade 8 student, has also had many experiences with this issue. She is often friended by people she doesn’t know who then continue to message her until she is forced to block or report them. “I always just assume it’s someone I don’t know in the grade above or below, because of the number of contacts we share.” This evidence is significant because it reveals how very few people are aware of this issue and how serious it can become. Over friending can lead to strangers discovering all sorts of information they couldn’t have accessed previously.

Another source illustrates that a teenagers lack of privacy can also lead to objectionable advances. “One in five U.S. teenagers who regularly log on to the Internet says they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation on social media,” says the source. This shows that four people in each of your classes have possibly been exposed to something they might not cognitively been ready for. According to research, early exposure to crude content could increase the risk of a child becoming a victim of sexual violence or the probability of them acting out sexually against another child. Both of which are extremely dangerous and harmful for the well being of the person as well as their classmates.

Furthermore, this resource offers evidence that 82% of online sex crimes against minors, the offender uses the victim's social networking site to gain information. When over friending is added into the mix, this leaves a teenager’s private information in a vulnerable position. “The offenders can use flattery and sympathy to get the teenager to oblige with what they request, ” states David Finkelhor from the Crimes against Children Research Center. “Their requests can range from provocative pictures to meeting in deserted locations, both of which can harm the youth’s well being” continued another source. This information suggests, that a predator targets a person’s hormones and insecurity are both at a peak in their teen years which makes the predator’s methods more effective.

Social media has now become such a constant in most young lives that finding a way to ensure privacy seems nearly impossible. Finding a safe space to be able to share parts of your life without having to deal with unwanted attention becomes a necessity in protection from harassment and content that is too mature for some people’s comfort. According to unnamed sources, “(in) large parts this lack of privacy can be tracked down to not further investigating when you don’t recognize someone’s name or picture.” Other steps that can be taken to ensure protection would include only befriending those that can be trusted with all details you reveal on your social media websites. If an invasive or bothersome person does gain access to your information and starts harassing you, the next best step is to let someone in a position of authority or maturity know. “Of all those teenagers targeted by predators, only 25% then report back to an adult,” reports this source. Mature adults can be essential in restoring privacy and dealing with a dangerous individual, especially for vulnerable underage people. The final step in ensuring that your profile isn’t the target of crude comments and disturbing acts is to report and block all individuals that make you uncomfortable or invade your privacy.

Written by Akanksha Shukla.

How’s Technology Affects Children’s Daily Life?

Over the last five years, technology has changed and expanded in every field imaginable. Smart phones are now like the Hogwart. It is capable of taking pictures, sending emails, contacting and even searching the Internet. Of course, it does change our lives but not always in a good way.

As in a real life example,during dinner time at the canteen, there’s a group of students flunking together in one table, eating their dinner. But the one noticeable thing is that they spend most of their time paying attention to their phones and headsets in their ears. But no one starts the conversation to each other.

In this situation, we can see that technology can change the world in a different way from what we expected. It supposed to help us communicate better with people more when we don’t see each other very often and it also uses to help our studies as well. Moreover, it has many apps that can help our life more convenient with everything. Even though, it’s not always the same as what we thinking.

A boy and a girl chat with each other on the phone everyday but when they see each other face to face at school, they don’t even say a word. Furthermore, on Facebook or Twitter, they have thousands of friends or followers from all over the world. But their friends in their outside world is just only 20 to 25 only. And furthermore, their friendship is not even improving because they don’t communicate very much.

Second is about their study. Some technology like phones, electronic dictionaries, laptops, Ipad are expected to help young learners with their studies. And that’s also a big reason when their parents buy them all that technology devices. But most of the children use it for the entertainment even more than everything. Some kids even complain about too much homework and too much pressure. But it is actually not the problem with the homework but it is with themselves. They check their phones to see if there’s any messages or emails several times in an hour. They even spend their time doing stuffs with their electronic devices in bed as well. So where is the real meaning of using technology?

“Modern technology is part of contemporary life and naturally affect in people’s lives. However, it becomes really obvious that a number of children nowadays are using technology excessively” says a teacher.

So what can we do to stop it? We don’t need to throw the phones or the laptops away to stop it. But the important thing is people have to balance their schedule better. They have to balance what time should they have for their family, friends, studies and for their entertainment!!! Then, everything will be BETTER!!!!

Written by Khantey