Dangers of Social Networking

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Erin Demko Mr. Buchanan English Composition II 8 April 2011 Cyber World Tears Down Personal Firewalls Communication was once fairly simple and basic. Most friendships were developed by verbal communication, with interactions that most commonly occurred face to face. If you wanted to get contact with someone at a distance, it was done by mail or making a call from home on the telephone. Advancements in technology are dramatically changing society’s means of communication. These expansions include technologies such as cell phones, texting, and e-mail. The most recently emerging form of communication technology is social networking. The cyber world has become a huge trend among today’s generation of teens. Studies done by The Commonwealth of Massachusetts show that 73% of teens on the internet are using social networking sites on a regular basis (“Social Networking Sites”). Networking is an extremely beneficial way to keep in touch with acquaintances and to expand one’s social world to more people and places. Although beneficial to communication, social networks lack sufficient privacy to protect users from unwanted viewers. Social networking puts users in jeopardy of dangers such as privacy issues, sexual predators, and cyber bullying. Social network users often have a misconception of their privacy online. A survey by PC Magazine concluded that “52% of adult internet users have posted data that could be dangerous, including home addresses, full date of birth, and information about their children” (Alcanesius). All the information someone puts online can be accessed by just about anyone, whether or not you know about it. Users put personal information on websites and talk about themselves for the benefit of socializing. It is there for the user’s friends and people they know. Unfortunately, those are not the only people looking at your profile. Anyone can see
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