Social Media: Stranger Dangers

It can be seen that the further time goes on, the more technology is taking over our lives. Social media is a huge influence on our day to day lives, and can be identified to be impacting the way in which we interact with each other, more than just making communication instant.

The role of the internet initially was to increase the speed of tasks, such as researching, taking notes and communicating. However, it is now obvious, that people, especially the younger generation from ages 13-25 are now spending great lengths of time online. It can be seen that as much as 5 hours a day can be spent online per day by those within this age category.

Therefore, it can be seen that the take-over of this issue, has influenced us on a number and variety of factors within the majority of the populations lives. This new take-over has impacted aspects of our lives such as our safety. Nowadays people are “following” and talking to those online who we know nothing about. Therefore, by advertising our lives over social media applications, we may be putting ourselves in more danger than ever before. Within seconds of heard a person’s name, it is possible to go online and find out what they look like, their details, and who their friends are. Therefore, it can be seen that we should consider what information we are making available to others.

From young ages, we have always been told not to talk to people who we don't know, and have been enforced the "stranger danger" rule from adults. However, we can see now that this rule seems to be irrelevant behind the screens of a computer. Many people feel that when we are behind a keyboard, we are able to protect ourselves from the cruel realities of talking to people we don't know. However, it can be seen that the masks which our screens and keyboards produce, cant always keep us safe.

This is an important issue which I feel should be taken into more of a consideration due to the harms which we could potentially be getting ourselves into. By not respecting these harms, as much as we should. In order to ensure we protect ourselves and our friends, I feel that we should restrict ourselves from the information which we are submitting to the world.

I'll be continuing my thoughts on these issues next week, type soon, Anna