Baym touches upon the reactions of people to new technology
and media in the second chapter of Personal
Connections in the Digital Age. One of the points she discusses is the fear
of people that new media and technology are inhibitors of moral wrongdoings and
bad behavior. In the case of the Internet, much of that fear lies in the
possible exposure to pornography or being deceived by a predator. While these
fears have the potential to become reality, the Internet offers much, much more
than its dangers. I would argue that in our age, it is more detrimental to keep
children off the Internet than it is to allow them to become familiar with it
and learn how to safely operate in the virtual world. Modern parents have a new
responsibility of instilling safe Internet practices in their children. It is
very reasonable for parents to closely monitor their child’s Internet use as
they explore and learn online. By the time a child who grew up with the
Internet is a teenager, he or she should be able to exist safely on the
Internet. As Cartoon 2.7 on page 45 insinuates, teenagers are going to do what
they want regardless of what tools they have at their hands so it is important
to make sure that teenagers are making safe decisions about who they talk to
and what they do online. The Internet offers a vast expanse of information and
people with whom connections can be made; it creates familiarity with unknown
things and brings people together. Therefore, it is imperative that teenagers
are able to access and learn from the Internet.
Baym also touches upon the qualms that people have about
relationships that are created or sustained online. The Internet can be a very
powerful tool to create connections; people crave relationships that extend
beyond their daily lives, especially when constantly surrounded by the same
people. I remember in high school when websites like Omegle and ChatRoulette
were very popular, sites that would pair users together at random to have a
conversation, identifying each other as “Stranger” with the ability of either
party to disconnect at any point. Even today, online dating and dating apps
have become extremely popular. I do not agree with those that doubt the
authenticity of online relationships or friendships. I have personally made a
number of friends online that I have either later come to meet in real life or
to this day have not yet met and only see their lives through Snapchat and
Facebook. I hold these friends in the same regard as I do with my “real life”
friends and family, and even better, I learn new things about other cultures
and communication.
I like the approach you took with discussing the dangers of the internet. As I wrote my blog post, all I could seem to think about were all the risks and consequences involved with social media, and I hadn't really thought about it from the perspective that you discussed. That being said, I completely agree with you. While I've seen a lot of parents shoving an iPad in their kids' faces to keep them quiet in public places, I've also witnessed the other end of the spectrum: parents completely shielding their kids from the internet or any use of digital media. Despite the sex education discussion that's become so prevalent in our culture today, we don't really see much of parents and/or teachers raising the same concerns about media literacy/education. Completely blocking kids out of the discussion is far more risky than actually teaching them how they can navigate these scenarios safely and responsibly. By not starting the conversation with their kids, parents disregard the possible consequences involved with these potentially harmful sites, while simultaneously demonizing a technology that could do a lot of good when used in an educated manner.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this blog post. I think you did a great job of talking about the dangers of the internet and how children should be supervised and taught how to use it the correct ways. I definitely agree with what you had to say and I thought about similar things while reading this chapter as well. I also liked what you had to say about online relationships and I agree that it is possible to create authentic friendships through social media sites.
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