Angelo Simone
3/30/14
Blog Project
Top
10 Things to Beware of from Using New Media
1. Promoting negative behaviors through online
gaming: Violent and explicit games have always been a hot button issue when
involving teens and young adults. The people using these types of games can
access them via the internet through their gaming system. Instead of parents
watching what their children select at a store, the kids can simply order any
game they want through the internet. There is a great deal of people, young and
old, who sometimes become obsessed with these violent games and fail to
distinguish reality from fantasy.
2.
Information
can be seen by anyone: Many people forget that the internet is a global
network and that whatever they post online can be seen by anyone in the world
with an internet connection. This was the case of Lindsey Stone, who posted a
prank image of herself giving the middle finger at an unnamed tomb in the
Arlington National Cemetery. This photo outraged numerous viewers who saw the
picture and demanded her to be fired. Consequently, Stone was terminated
shortly after by her employer for the incident.
3. Search engines can be misleading: Search engines like Google and Yahoo don’t
always give the same results to everyone. They actually look at the location
and person who is inputting the information and produce results based on that bias.
Search engines also may lead people to false information and uncreditable
sources. When using the internet and search engines, one should always be
careful and check their sources.
4.
Facebook
causes depression: Facebook can also lead some people into depression.
These people are so obsessed and dependent on what is posted on their profiles
that when negative posts happen, they become clinically depressed. People that
have become obsessed with Facebook start to fall from society. They live their
lives on their computer and do all of their day to day activities from watching
their Facebook. These types of people do not even leave their homes or go
outside in the real world. Even if it does not get to that point, many people
spend the greater part of their day always checking their Facebook from phones
and other mobile devices.
5.
Rumors
can be easily spread: Ever since the beginning of time, word of mouth has
led to hearsay and rumors. Up until the internet, it was usually kept only to
the people who heard it firsthand. Now with the World Wide Web, the entire
world is the audience susceptible to these rumors. Such was the case when Obama
was rumored not to be an American citizen.
6.
Identity
theft: The internet has become
the main avenue for identity thieves to steal credit card numbers, social
security numbers, money, and much more. This was the case for Maurice J.
Larry, who was was sentenced to 174 months in prison for stealing $2,240,096
through use of the internet.
7.
Innocent
people can become the accused: When grainy photos were released of the
Boston bombers, a photo of a similar looking boy was posted on Reddit and said
to be one of the real suspects. The boy had gone missing a few weeks earlier
and soon his family was tormented by the public and the media. The body of the
boy, Sunil Tripathi, was later found
and cause of death was determined to be suicide. He had nothing to do with the
Boston Bombers, but his name and his family were dragged through the mud all
because of a misconception online.
8.
People
are not who they seem: On the internet, people communicate simply through
electronics without ever having to meet face to face. Megan Meier was a young
girl who thought she had made a new friend on Myspace. He was a young,
attractive boy who she grew quite fond of. The boy was in fact created by an
ex-friends mom trying to get back at Megan. After Megan’s new cyber friend told
her to kill herself, Megan indeed took her own life.
9.
Facebook
consumes lives: People that have become obsessed with Facebook start to
fall from society. They live their lives on their computer and do all of their
day to day activities from watching their Facebook. These types of people do
not even leave their homes or go outside in the real world. Even if it does not
get to that point, many people spend the greater part of their day always
checking their Facebook from phones and other mobile devices.
10.
New
media is killing small businesses: New media actually comes as a convenience
to most of us who use it. People
can now shop, pay their bills, send mail, and keep in touch with friends
through the use of an internet connection. For small businesses however, this
is taking their customers right from under them. Why go to the post office and
pay for a stamp to mail a letter when you can just email it for free? If you
are part of the businesses being affected by this trend, you know that it is
actually a battle just to make ends meet nowadays.
Works
Cited
