Welcome to the World of www

Today’s teenagers put far more personal information on their Bebo or MySpace page than they would ever give a stranger in the street. In fact, it has almost taken over the social lives of some. A comment on Bebo can be just as valued as a face to face conversation, if not more so. And this, some say, is the problem. As our lives become so entwined with the internet, our personal information becomes more and more accessible. Are we putting ourselves in danger by using social networking sites?

We have all been taught about stranger danger since our first year at primary school, or maybe even before. We know not to get in the car with the guy who offers you a ride, no matter how friendly he may look and not to accept lollies from the smiling woman standing outside the school gate. This is all second nature to us, so it isn’t the problem.

However, many of us let our guard down over the net. We seem to believe that dodgy strangers aren’t getting our personal information simply because we aren’t giving it directly to them. Think again. In fact, you are probably in more danger from stalkers in cyber-space than in the real world. You see, it is much more straightforward to ‘stalk’ someone from the internet. It is easy to hide behind the sweet photo of your supposed-self, 15 year old “Polly” and the personal description of how you love “hanging with your friends and shopping”. Obviously, a 50 year old male paedophile isn’t going to be able to hide behind this persona while trying to lure kids into his car. So, how do you really know, next time a girl adds you to her MySpace page saying they are a friend of a friend, that they really are who they say they are? The answer is simple, you don’t.

The internet has also opened up a new form of abuse, cyber-bullying. Playground teasing used to be limited to, as the name implies, the playground. Once you left school, the ‘bullies’ couldn’t get to you. No such luck since the invention of the www world. The incidents of cyber-bullying have been escalating with kids and teenagers being harassed, abused and stalked over the internet by fellow-school mates. This sort of personal torment is insidious. No matter where you are, as long as you are near a computer screen, you can’t get away from it. It also allows the offenders to make the humiliation far more public. There have been various cases of youths video-taping attacks and then just to top it off, posting these videos on the net for the rest of the world to see.
So, are social networking sites endangering us? To certain extent, yes, they are. But in saying this, you get as good as you give. If you are putting your address, phone number or email address on your page, you’re asking for trouble. However, if you only add people you actually know, don’t advertise your address for the entire population of the planet to see, and take advantage of the safety options most of these sites provide, you will probably be fine. It comes down to doing all you can to minimise the risks and acting sensibly. It also pays sometimes to realise that, there is a real world out there! Real people, real conversations and real social interaction!