Social Media: Negative Effect

Social media is define as a type of communication that takes place online between individuals through user profiles or blogs. It allows the transfer of various information and files including pictures, audio recordings, and videos. Users are capable of interactions that don’t require face to face communications. Some users even utilize this type of media as a tool to stay connected to family members that are traveling across the world. Many people posts their daily activities at the exact moment of starting or completing the task.

Social media has also created avenues for websites to generate revenue through e-commerce.

With millions of interactions taking place daily, the social media market is starting to affect our entire society in an unexpected way. Sarina Fazan of ABC’s Action News compiled a report titled “Teen killer says social media led her to murder. ” In her report she documented a murder case involving Rachel Wade, currently behind bars. Rachel describes her story by stating “You can hide behind technology.

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You can be a whole other person. It’s almost like you can threaten something or say whatever you want and possibly scare them and you don’t have to face them at that moment. However, when emotions run deep and pride is at stake; the outcomes are completely random. Another case of social media leading to crime was examined by Bidisha Bandyopadhyay, a writer, publisher, and critic from BBC Radio. Her research evolved around a conversation about rape and domestic violence leaked to the media that occurred on Facebook.

She quoted that the writers stated ‘”Riding Your Girlfriend Softly Cause You Don’t Want to Wake Her Up”. Sleep rape too un-violent? Try “Throwing Bricks at Sluts”, check out the gallery and vote Bang, or Brick.

The page called “Don’t You Hate It When You Punch a Slut in the Mouth and They Suck It,” has 2,086 likes. If you want stronger stuff, try “Punching Pregnant Women in the Stomach. ” Too tame? “Abducting, Raping and Violently Murdering Your Friend, as a Joke” has more than 16,600 likes. ” The fact that people can log onto their account and discuss tips about successfully raping a woman without any punishment is a bit too much for me to accept. Social media is becoming a tool for criminals to evolve and stalk their victims. In Washington D. C. n February 4, 2013, the headlines of the Washington Times read “Burglars using Facebook to select and case homes. ” Inside Laura Sesana article, she describes the burglary or couple from Nashville, Texas. The couple posted on their websites about leaving town and going on a vacation. When they returned, the couple explained their home as “being turned upside, to shake all the valuable items free. ” If this wasn’t enough, Credit Sesame Daily conducted a survey of 50 ex-burglars in the UK concluded that 78% of them believed that thieves today use social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare to find potential properties to strike.

Moreover, Credit Sesame cites a 2011 Met Life Auto & Home poll showed that 15% of Americans report that they have left their home through social media and 35% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 tweet about their location or check in. Based off this information, we can conclude that even criminals feel social media is the aid to a number of crimes. Acknowledging: After gathering information from criminals regarding the negative impact of social media, my focus than turned to the parents of children and teens that utilize social media on an hourly basis.

I came across a report done by Tinashe Chivhere, of The Herald News titled “its parents vs children on social media. ” As I read through her article I began to understand that parents are not happy with the recent advancements of social media. Mrs. Murwira, a teacher and parent, added “This monster called Facebook is slowly taking our children from us, I don’t know who will bury us. ” As a parent of four, I too have problems with social media. At home I have broadband internet which allows every room to use Netflix.

However, many times when I surprisingly check on them, YouTube or Facebook seems to be on the computer screen. The main problem social media has is its effects on our youth such as: * Cyber Bullying. The act of bullying someone over the internet. This can be done in a form of instant messaging or emails. * Cyber Stalking. The act of stalking someone online through various websites and networks. * Cyber Predators. The act of attempting to lure unaware kids to a place or location where they can be abducted. In my opinion, these actions are enough to warn about the precautions needed when kids are online.

If social media is considered to criminals as a gateway to their victims, than odds are more and more crimes will occur that involve social media. Constructing a rationale: Now that we understood what criminals where doing online, my next step was understanding why and how it came to past. The fact of the matter is that, day after day, we update our status, check in, and posts comments about where we are headed and when. If a rape suspect was watching your every step and post online including when you’re alone, sadly; you would unwarily alert them of the best possible time to perform their crime.

For example, the couple from Texas posted where they were going and when on their separate Facebook pages. The police investigation later discovered that, the culprit was indeed the couples Facebook friend. With that being said, it’s a sure fact that he was tipped off by their posts on the best possible time to rob the couple’s home. On the other hand Sarina Fazan, reported that there was a lot of cyber bullying taking place before the incident occurred. This leaves me to wonder, that if Facebook wasn’t available, would this crime have ever taken place.

With the safety of our kids hanging in the future, I believe it’s time we parents took action. How do we continue to let our kids utilize the internet without worrying for their safety? When will we stop kidding ourselves and admit to the negative effects of social media? The bottom line is, social media is leading to cyber-crimes, as well as first person crimes involving rape and sexual abuse. How do we ‘not’ make a change as parents and claim to care for our family’s safety? In conclusion, it is safe to assume predators and criminals await our kids online.

Social media has become an outlet for criminal activity. As a result, parents are urging officials about the dangers our kids face with hopes of banning these sites. With the safety of innocent people hanging in the distance, social media is proven to be a tool used for reckless and dangerous activities. For us, as a people, to allow this to continue over this much of time is completely uncultured. Social media will carve its way into our next generation, the only thing we can do now is hope, hope for the restrictions of social media site. Only then, we will truly be safe from internet crimes.