Social Networking and It's implications

Second Life

2009-09-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

I am one those people who has a Second Life. From personal experience, the site can become an addiction, and can make you stay online for hours and hours at a time.

Starting out, one makes an alter ego of themselves, many of which have strange names. My second life, for example, was named Wheat, and I basically made myself on the computer. Afterwards, there is an option (which one has to pay for. I didn't pay a penny for my second life.) that you can put a copy of your own face on second life, as well as a choice for your own property (whihc you have to buy as well).

Essentially, Second Life is life in fantasy land. It is a world where one lives out his or her dreams on a computer. It is somehow similar to "World of Warcraft", and the movie "Surrogates". You make friends from around the world, and in doing so, a person discovers another person's aspirations and dreams manifest in another body.

The Second Life doesn't have much benefit to society however. Society becomes an giant emotionless zombie, sitting on the computer, letting its mind run in virtual reality, and disallow a person's body to connect with the true real world.

Obama's Brilliant New Age Tactics

2009-09-29T18:22:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama was born in 1962. Because of this, the man is more in touch with the day's technology than any president in recent memory. In his campaign for president, Obama went web in trying to recruit Americans to his side. By doing this, Obama reached young people better than any other president in recent memory. People visited and joined his campaign social networking site by the thousands, and kept a connection with his supporters.

This gave Obama a huge advantage over John McCain, who does not even use E-mail. By being in touch online, Obama got his message out much more easily, and, in doing so, won the presidency handily.

PBS's raised issues

2009-09-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

PBS, in its public program on teens and the internet, raised barking issues in terms of today's teens on the internet. Firstly, it delves into the issues that teens hold absolutely nothing back on the internet, and therefore, have a completely public private life under the noses of their parents, who did not grow up in the internet age. Furthermore, since parents realize that their kids are on the internet without constraints, they try to find ways to deter their children from revealing such information so freely.

What the parents do not understand about the internet is how much young people intend to express their own feelings. Teens show their alter egos online, post videos of certain happenings online, and even discuss their issues online, with random people. Such interactions have parents fearing for predators, and people who are threats to their childrens' well beings.

In trying to deflect their children from being so deep into cyberspace, parents have tried placing rules on their children, and trying to police them as much as possible. In trying to police, some parents have caused their children to further distance themselves, and know even less about their private lives.

Even worse, cyberbulling has become a problem, and has even caused suicide amongst teens.

But, in conclusion, unbeknownst to parents, teens happen to know exactly what they are doing on the internet. They stay away from predators, and, if approached by one, tend to ignore it. In reality, teens have a pretty good sense of direction when it comes to the internet.