Teenagers Aren't Afraid Of Strangers Online
from the stranger!!-stranger!!-stranger!! dept
When I was growing up, it was drilled into my elementary school brain to "don't talk to strangers" -- it instilled so much fear in me that whenever I did see a stranger, I would burst into a cold sweat and my pulse would quicken a bit, in anticipation of being kidnapped or offered candy. Luckily, my fears were unfounded, but the "don't talk to strangers" lessons are still vivid memories from my childhood. Apparently, kids these days don't share my childhood fears. In a recent study conducted by the Pew Internet and the American Life Project, only about 5 to 10 percent teenagers contacted online by strangers felt scared or uncomfortable by the experience. The study also found that 44 percent of teenagers with online profiles on sites like Facebook and MySpace were contacted by strangers, as compared to only 16 percent of those without profiles. Obviously, as more and more teens increase their digital footprint, the possibility that they may come in contact with a stranger increases in likelihood. And, since safe, positive interactions with strangers take place every day online, it makes sense that these teenagers don't really see it as creepy or scary. That said, hopefully they do understand how to deal with people they don't know online -- not that they should shut off all contact with people, but rather approach them with caution and only reveal personal information when they are sure that the new acquaintance is trusted. In any case, it's only a matter of time before some legislator gets their hands on this study and uses it as "proof" that teenagers are lax in their fear of strangers online.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Sad Truth
and it will only be a matter of time before I see the internet blocked at my school because it lets me talk to people that might have different political opinions (such as the world was created by a God and not evolution) than the school teaches.
I'm that popular in school, and the only place I really have any friends is the internet. I've met a many people that I don't know and now know quite well. But I pose this question, are we not all stranger to one another before we become friends?
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Re: Sad Truth
I think you need to unplug from your digital friends and meet some warm-body individuals to hang out with. That doesn't mean you have to try any make friends in school, but why not try extracurricular activities or a job? Internet friends are no replacement for people you can actually see and talk to because you might still feel lonely.
Now back on topic: I don't think strangers are a problem online to teenagers. Assuming the parents are responsible, their children will have enough sense to not run off meeting people they only talk to online. I would like to see the study of how many teenagers aren't afraid of strangers online compared to the ones that actually get hurt by strangers online. I bet those numbers would be pretty low and boring.
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Re: Re: Sad Truth
I also have a job, but that doesn't mean I hang out with people outside of my job, I only know them while I work and no other time. I have fun at my job, but I would not say that they are "true friends".
All I was saying is that I'm not that popular at school. I do have some friends, but not many, and not many that I can hang out with after school. I am involved in a club and I enjoy it, but thats once a week. What I meant by saying that is mainly that most of my friends are online. It doesn't make them any less "warm-body"-ed, it just means that I talk with them digitally. I talk with some of them on the phone and some hope to meet, but they are still real people.
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Re: Sad Truth
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Re: Sad Truth
I think Pennywise the clown said that same thing to Georgie right before ripping his arm off.
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Re: Re: Sad Truth
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Definitions...
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How do you know? How do you know that one of the strangers you avoided wasn't, in fact, going to be your kidnapper/molester/whatever.
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Re:
You can live your life through paranoid fear, or not, and the biggest difference it will make is how much you enjoy life
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Parents can't be sitting beside their children all the time, but assuredly the responsibility is in teaching right and wrong social conduct, as well as spot-checking logs of their children's activities. Anything less monitoring than that is perversely negligent. As Chris Rock says "Keep yo baby off the pole!"
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Non-Issue
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Re:
Trust me, I often am able to do a quick google search and come up with more information than most of them think I can find on them. I'm constantly hearing "ur frekin me out ru sum sorta stalker?" to which I reply, "You SHOULD have thought of that before you decided to contact me. Now you'll just sleep lightly for the rest of this month having to wonder if I am or not."
While I would never commit any crimes, I have been tempted on numerous occasions, and actually HAVE had to contact schools, parents and in one excessive case authorities on these cowardly little shits. No good will come out of my attempts to rid this type of behavior, but I can pluck them out from feeling safe and brave, even if it is just one by one.
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This is all really simple..
It doesn't matter if it is online or in real life, most of these exceptionally naive people meet with trouble. Just because the predator that gets them is from online, doesn't mean they couldn't have gotten them by meeting them after school or at the bowling alley.
Parents need to teacher their kids that there are dangers in the world and stop creating victims.
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uhh..lol
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Re: uhh..lol
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No one says that evolution created the world. Evolution and creationism are explanations of two completely different events. It's quite possible that god created the world and that everything evolved from there.
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Well, they have to learn sometime
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Online Victimization Conference
See the following site with studies to show this.
http://www.geocities.com/eoped/isc-hearing-res.html
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internet safety
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Teenagers running off with internet lovers
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Help for Parents
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