Social Networking Sites.

Issues Raised on the PBS Presentation: Growing up Online
DISADVANTAGES!!

The issues raised on the PBS documentary were:- secrecy,acceptance, popularity and socialism...but isolation at the same time. It was interesting because physical communication has gone out the door it seems and has been replaced with isolated communication. Children prefer to pick up a cell phone and text or log onto a computer to chat with friends. It has become so ridiculous that students don't even pick up books to read anymore...instead, they read books online or log onto a website called where they read summaries of books that are assigned in class. When students go home, instead of eating, sleeping or doing homework they log onto popular websites like Facebook and MySpace and check out new photos and information on their friends. These social networking sites have seem to taken over their lives and I'm not sure if these children seem to realize this or not, and even if they did realize it...do they even care??....I personally don't think that they care because the response that seems to be coming from everyone is "Everyone's doing it and if you're not doing it then nobody really knows you". It sounds to me like hidden peer pressure and I don't believe that children lack to see this. The world that we live in seems to me materialistic and flashy, if isn't a new reality tv show with an every day Joe bursting onto the scenes and being the new 'it'...then it's someone else posting something hilarious or jaw dropping on YouTube like the fight that was recorded and put onto YouTube between two High School girls got upset with each other over derogatory remarks that were made on MySpace. It seems like a never ending cycle with these sites e.g A problem would start on a social networking site then move to YouTube then back to that same social networking site or perhaps another site, and in all of this....no verbal communication or parents would be involved. Everything seemed to be a secret as far as parents were concerned but yet this is the internet and the internet isn't a secretive place. It's on display for everyone to see and talk about, which brings up the question of 'Are parents partly to blame for their children's activity online?' I believe that parents are somewhat to blame for the children's activities' online because they're adding fuel to the fire when they put computers in their children's room and don't monitor what's going between them and their friends....however, looking at the documentary 'Growing up Online' it's very obvious that the children know exactly what they're doing when they go on these types of sites...they either block their parents from viewing their activities on these websites or they use their friends' computer at their house all in hopes to hide from their

parents.

These social networking sites it seems boosts the confidence of those that are lacking self esteem for e.g Jessica a.k.a Autumn Edows a Gothic porn-like superstar on MySpace. Around her parents and in school she was a shy girl who was socially challenged and was constantly teased by others because of how she looked. But as soon as 3p.m hit and she was home, she transformed from shy Jessica to sexy Autumn by taking provocative pictures and being seen in compromising positions. Her parents like most parents had no idea what she was up to until they were notified by the schools' principal on the happenings of their innocent daughter Jessica.
Another sad thing about the internet is that it's too 'open' anyone can have access to you...the scary thing about that is, you don't need to know them personally and they can contact you and basically tell you what they want all from the privacy of their home. This was especially scary for Ryan Halligan who committed suicide after being cyber-bullied(bullying online) from various members of his school. He was called gay, loser and he was told that the world be better off if he were just not in it. Ryan eventually took this to heart and decided to end his life at a very short time. Even though this is scary and troubling to hear...what's even more scary and troubling is the fact that there are websites created for people that want to end their lives, there's even support groups that help you commit suicide by teaching you how to tie a noose and hang yourself at home, it really is very sad.

ADVANTAGES: Second Life & The Obama Campaign

Advantages of Social Networking websites would have to come from one SNsite(Social Network) in particular, and this would have to be a site called Second Life where people can create an avatar of themselves and they can do just about the everyday things that we ourselves can do(with the exception of flying) like going to work, school, taking out the trash and having a family life. This site is mainly used to help those that can't really help themselves socially or are too scared too...in meeting other groups of people like themselves and building a friendship with them. It's typically used with the mentally challenged or some of those suffering with autism, it gives them a sense of belonging and acceptance with those who may otherwise reject them in the real world that we live in.
The Obama campaign used various sites like Facebook, MySpace and MyBO in which to get his platform across and gather up money for his campaign, what he did was target those that used these sites(predominantly the youth) and he gave them a sense of control (especially on the MyBo website) when it came to them finding information about other registered voters in their area or about those that were still undecided...the information that posted up there was their addresses, phone numbers and what possible party they supported or not. His campaign also asked individuals to throw campaign themed parties where supporters would allow random people into their houses to watch meetings on tv that then Senator Barack Obama would be speaking at...at the end of the party money was collected from the people and it would then be giving to his campaign. Obama's campaign raised about $58 million just from small donations that were about less than $200 from individuals, it Facebook page had over 1 million fans in about a couple of weeks. His opponents Hilary Clinton and John McCain used the internet to spread the word about their platform and raise money but they had extravagant parties that most people couldn't afford to get in anyway. Not only that, but their campaign didn't understand how important it was to share information via SNsites to gather a huge group of supporters. Obama's campaign realized early on that this was the way of the future....internet and social networking sites were the way of the future and they decided to run with it. They not only used internet but they also used SMS(Short Messaging Service a.k.a Text Messaging) to contact supporters who then sent messages to their other friends about candidate Barack Obama, this of course soon caught on Obama was well known by many. He also utilized YouTube and his many speeches got a lot of views from around the world, the internet has TRULY been good to Mr. Obama because he was elected President of the United States in 2008 and he had his inauguration ceremony in the nation's capital in January 2009.