Is Social Networking More Dangerous to Teens Than "Stranger Danger"?

In a world where words such as 'Facebook' and 'Twitter' belong to everyday vocabulary, it is no wonder that the traditional parental rules are taking on a modern twist. Long gone are the days when their biggest concern was the strange, old man hanging around outside the ice-creamery. Now, with instant access to strangers worldwide, stranger danger has taken on a whole new meaning. Educating children about strangers has always been on the agenda for parents and schools alike. I had to go through the process myself, having my bubble of naivety burst so I knew that there were people in the world who weren't as nice and friendly as those my parents ensured I was surrounded by. In younger years at school, I distinctly remember spending whole afternoons on the topic, reinforcing the ideas and warnings that had already been planted in our minds at home. The sole message of these lessons was to avoid face-to-face interaction with people we didn't know. After all, back in the late nineties, a public physical place was the only place a five or six year old would meet a stranger: computers were still in their infancy, and youngsters were struggling to control a computer mouse. Today, the tone has changed. Topics such as online protection and cyber bullying have even been included into high school curriculums. Children as young as three years old, starting their first year at kindergarten, are being warned of the dangers that exist over the internet. Being the eldest of four girls, I have experienced firsthand the difference in this education. My youngest sister, at twelve years old, has had constant warnings all through her schooling about keeping passwords a secret and not sharing personal information online. When I was five and in my first year of schooling, half of my class had never even used a computer until they got to school, let alone had one at home. I was one of the lucky ones who did have a family Windows 95 PC, which was relatively new at the time, but I was focused on playing The Lion King computer game, among various others based on cartoons and television shows. I had never even heard of social networking, let alone participated in it. Back then, this wasn't uncommon. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It wasn't that I had led a particularly sheltered life and without older siblings had been excluded from this particular social trend. No, it was just that children in their first year at school used the net to play games, generally at school and of the educational kind, not to communicate with people around the world. For those of you who are older than 15, like myself, and can remember the days before social networking was a part of everyday life, transport yourself back there. Remember your childhood. Remember the rules, the guidelines, your parents set in place. Top of the list was "don't talk to strangers'. When I was younger my parents weren't worried about what sort of strangers were stalking me online, but more about that shifty looking teenager who was shuffling along the road. When I asked to go out they would tell me they weren't worried about me, but of all the other people out there, those they didn't know. With my younger sister, these concerns remain, but they have been added to. My parents are definitely more aware of Firewalls and pop-up blockers now than they ever were when I was that age. In saying this, social networking is not a bad thing. Personally, I think it's great. It allows us to communicate with friends and family all over the world; people who we may not get a chance to talk to otherwise due to time and cost restraints. In terms of stranger danger, however, it really has taken things to a whole new level. Now, people aren't exposed to harmful characters that actually live in their area, they can be a target for the entire global population. Not only are there so many more stalkers and paedophiles that can come into contact with children, the house is no longer as safe as it once was. The concern for parents used to come when their children were about to leave their property, but with the number of hackers increasing, the exact location of today's children can be tracked right into the family home. We have all heard of the various deaths that have occurred from relationships that have been conducted through technology. While a large percentage of these have been suicides that have resulted from cyber bullying, we cannot let ourselves forget the murders that have occurred from young people giving out their personal details online. The scariest thing about this technology is that we never really know who we are talking to. My twelve year old sister might think she is talking to another young girl of the same age, when really it is a sick, twisted sixteen year old boy bent over the keyboard who could at any stage start sharing content that should never reach the ears or eyes of a primary school aged student. Even people my age who like to think that they would never be fooled by such covers, have been tricked into giving out personal details. I mean really, how can I possibly know if the surfer with the cute picture that I am chatting up online is eighteen or eighty? The internet has given the tiny percentage of weird, psychologically damaged people in the world access to victims all over the world. Hidden behind a computer screen or that of a mobile phone, many of us are not aware of the dangers that exist out in the world wide web. We certainly don't feel that shiver down our spine that we do when we look around to see someone following us down a dark alleyway, even when it turns out they were just walking in the same direction. Strangers from all over the world can now be following not only children, but teenagers and mature adults from all over the world. Who can possibly argue that social networking is a safe alternative to a child meeting their friends down at the local ice-cream shop?

Social Pro Daily

Is Social Networking More Dangerous to Teens Than "Stranger Danger"?

The biggest concern for parents used to be the strange, old man hanging around outside the ice-creamery. Now, with instant access to stranger worldwide, stranger danger has taken on a whole new meaning.

Amy Summers

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Amy Summers