Seniors #3--"Known Forever By The Tracks We Leave"
Just think.Whatever you post on Schoolsville can be seen all over the world. Potentially, one billion three hundred million Chinese are wandering through my blog right now. Hopefully, they're impressed with the writings and stylings of the St. Mark's Class of 2009. Hey, maybe a couple tall Chinese girls will transfer next year to St. Mark's to play basketball for me.
Likewise, whatever you post in cyberhoods like MySpace and Facebook is also visible to those one billion. That number doesn't include the rest of the world, which includes not only your cyberfriends, but your parents, teachers, ministers, coaches, college recruiters and admission directors, law enforcement officers, and potential employers. Many of these people also have MySpace and Facebook accounts so they can patrol their respective turfs. Am I making my point?
No, I'm NOT just advising caution in concealing your aberrant behavior. I'm advising CHANGING it. You might think you're careful enough to not get caught up in this tangled web, but as soon as you let your guard down, there's someone with a camera, cell phone, or video cam that thinks it would be real funny to take and then post that ONE picture of you that you absolutely want NO ONE else to see.
That one misstep down the slippery slope called "Your Reputation" might be a hard tumble. Believe me, even though you're only 17 and 18 years old, you still have a lot to lose.
Here's your assignment:
Read, summarize, and respond to this article from the University of Texas (or to the issues that it raises OR to my comments) that explores the dangers of on line cybergroups.
Length: minimum of 250 words
Do you have to post on the blog? NO. But as with all of the journal assignments, you'll hand them in to me at the end of the quarter.
Keep all of your journal and blog assignments in a Word document to print out near the end of the quarter.
posted by JTF @ 9:03 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
The article is very informative in that it brings up important issues about the internet that many of us don’t even think twice about. It bring up the fact that online, all bets are off. Whoever wants to see your profile can and they will. Anything on your profile is open to everyone and anyone. Friends, family, teachers, principals, employers, and everyone in between can see what you’ve posted, and if what’s there isn’t meant for their eyes, then you might be out of luck. If the people reading are of the unsavory type, you may be in much more trouble. The point of the article is to make us realize that anything we post online could get us into big trouble. If someone posts a picture of them drinking online, they could get grounded if their parents see it, kicked out of school if the principal sees it or be denied entry into college if someone in charge of admissions sees it. Someone could use that picture to track that person down and hurt them or any of a million things. And just because you set your profile on private doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be private. Someone posing as a teenager could ask to become their friend and gain access to their profile when the one asking is really a fifty year old man. On the internet, all bets are off and you can never be too careful. As my grandfather once said, if you don’t want anyone to see it, don’t write it down.
The Internet was opened a huge door to the world. It has its obvious advantages, most of which are the only ones we hear about. It also has very real, and at times scary disadvantages. One should be conscious of what they post on the internet, and not be naive enough to think that they, or only their friends can see it. The article from the University of Texas makes a lot of key points that can educate society on how to stay safe on the internet. Many sites advise people to be a certain age when signing up. Though these warning are easily avoidable by lying, the person is warned about the potential danger of not being mature enough for the site. Smart tips are to keep everything on the highest level of privacy, so only those who you accept to be friends, can see your information. Society, especially the youth of today, need to be very aware of the repercussions of their actions now on their futures. Pictures especially, can come back to haunt you in job interviews later in life. Also today, colleges are looking at Facebooks for suspicious behavior, even more so the athletes they are recruiting. A key message of this is, why post a picture that could one day cost you your career. It is not worth the comedy of the picture now, to loss of a job or sport later. Though, the internet is not “evil”, it is an excellent method of communication. Infinite resources are available to us at the touch of a mouse, and technology is just getting better.
I think as long as you don’t do anything too crazy; Facebook and Myspace can be great sites for people to use. Even if you don’t post the pictures of yourself “partying,” someone else could. As long as you keep this “partying” to a minimum, Facebook and Myspace should be good for you. Facebook, in my opinion is a better site than Myspace. It is more organized, easier to navigate, and does have better privacy settings. Even if you don’t post anything you wouldn’t want anyone else to see; it is still good a good idea to set privacy settings. This way, if you use these sites just to talk with friends; other people won’t be able to find you. I don’t think these social-networking sites should be banned or anything like that. It is the responsibility of the user to make good judgement in their posting, as well as their actions. If they don’t make good decisions, it’s their fault and no one else’s; don’t complain, “I didn’t know they had a camera there” or “That wasn’t me, was it?” Just be smart and don’t make those bad choices. When being used for the right reasons, social-networking sites are the best thing around; when used for the wrong reasons, there is nothing worse. Just use the precautions listed in the article: “use common sense, trust your instincts, be suspicious, etc.” and remember that whatever you put on the internet isn’t just on there for the next couple days; it’s on there forever.
I think as long as you don’t do anything too crazy; Facebook and Myspace can be great sites for people to use. Even if you don’t post the pictures of yourself “partying,” someone else could. As long as you keep this “partying” to a minimum, Facebook and Myspace should be good for you. Facebook, in my opinion is a better site than Myspace. It is more organized, easier to navigate, and does have better privacy settings. Even if you don’t post anything you wouldn’t want anyone else to see; it is still a good idea to set privacy settings. This way, if you use these sites just to talk with friends; other people won’t be able to find you. I don’t think these social-networking sites should be banned or anything like that. It is the responsibility of the user to make good judgement in their posting, as well as their actions. If they don’t make good decisions, it’s their fault and no one else’s; don’t complain, “I didn’t know they had a camera there!” or “That wasn’t me, was it?” Just be smart and don’t make those bad choices. When being used for the right reasons, social-networking sites are the best thing around; when used for the wrong reasons, there is nothing worse. Just use the precautions listed in the article: “use common sense, trust your instincts, be suspicious, etc.” and remember that whatever you put on the internet isn’t just on there for the next couple days; it’s on there forever.
In this generation, computers are our source to everything, the good and the bad. Although, some people may set themselves up for disastrous happenings. Putting too much information on a blog of any kind- Facebook or Myspace is not a good thing to do. For me, it is common sense to not put your full name, birth date, address, or phone number. The University of Texas truthfully tells the viewer that anyone can search you if your privacy settings are not up to date. What happens when you are going for an interview? You have to be smart. Not everyone is when it comes to being online. Privacy settings are a must in this case. Interviewers may be able to search you, but they will not be able to go much further than see your name, birthday and gender on your homepage. This is so because the privacy settings are fixated to only allowing friends to see more information, such as; pictures, friends, and other general information.
Facebook is not meant to be a bad thing. Maybe parents need to be more on point with their children and what they post. But honestly, all of the hullabaloo is due to boredom in my mind. If you want a place to chat with friends maybe even reconnect with an old one, Facebook can help you find them.
People, especially teenagers and blog users are vulnerable to the many things that go on in this cyber world we have created. Many times a friend may request you, but what do you do when you get a friend request from an unknown person? The University of Texas gives a few good tips. Some of which are: see if you have friends in common with them or maybe even run an online search on them. Above all, they say to use your common sense. Never go alone when meeting a new friend and do not reveal too much about yourself to an online viewer that you still do not know. Like you wrote, we are known forever by the tracks we leave.
The article makes a valid point; online sites like Facebook and MySpace are dangerous if the proper precautions are not taken. Everyone that has an account on either of these sites should have the privacy settings set appropriately. Obviously, all the privacy settings in the world can not stop some computer hackers that really want your information, so you are always at risk. It is easy, but naive, to think that nothing bad will ever happen to you. Facebook and MySpace subscribers must understand when putting any information on their site they must be able to take responsibility for it, whether it be pictures, videos, or comments. Even if you did not post the offensive piece, it is still on your profile and you can be disciplined for it. Not only do schools look at these pages, but possible employers and family members also have access. Most facilities now have there own accounts so that they can look at there employees or students web pages. It has come to be said that you should not put anything on the internet that you would not want you grandparents to see. This is a smart way of editing your site to almost ensure you will not get in trouble, but as always there is no way to be 100% sure that your personal life will be kept personal. The best way to deal with the possibility of a bad reputation is to not do anything that would get you into trouble, and most certainly do not document it where the entire world can see.
The article about Facebook is very important about learning the dangers of facebook and other parts of the internet. We might think that our Facebooks are safe and whatever we put on the internet will not affect us, but that is not true. Nowadays everything that is on the internet can effect you, either in a negative or positive way. The best way to not have anything affect you negatively is to just have common sense when posting anything on the internet. You should think, "Will anything bad come out of my putting this onto the internet?" If you think that the answer might be yes then you should just refrain from posting it. Also, since we are in senior year of high school and applying to colleges, many colleges are looking at the facebooks of their applicants. Students could not get accepted into a school if they have "bad" pictures or posts on their facebook/myspace. In my opinion, I think that even if colleges were not looking at facebooks for college people should still have enough common sense not to put innapropriate pictures on facebook. The pictures could get into the hands of the wroung people and you never know what could happen! Also, you should make sure that your facebook is set to provate so thqt only people you are friends with can view your pictures, posts, etc. The internet may be considered dangerous, but if you take the right precautions it can be very safe!
Post a Comment
<< Home