Social Networking - Pornography - Internet Predators - Video Networking
- Cyber-Bullying - Online Gaming - Net-Banging
Social Networking- Life is change. The smallest disturbance alters the pattern of the whole. The environment changes and man with it. If a young man meets a young lady under the right circumstances, he may be drawn to her by their common interests. This common interest toward a subject may deepen until they feel fondness and sympathy. The sympathy grows. They attach. If nothing disturbs this harmony, it will become infatuation. Love is the last stage and it can be tested by sacrifice.
Author, Lajos Egri (1888-1967) wrote this classic The Art of Dramatic Writing, a book that instructs writers on how to develop short stories, novels, screenplays and stage plays. His instructions were classic because he taught his students how to examine a play, its characters and its drama from the inside out. The quotes above come from a chapter entitled Environment. The basic premise of the chapter affirms that environment is what shapes character. The way we interact, the way we talk, the way we think and the way we feel.
In today's postmodern society, the environment of the Internet has commanding influence in the lives of our kids. Online communities such as MySpace, Facebook and Xanga host a tremendous amount of daily traffic, particularly from youth. Years ago, interaction among children was more personal. Kids would meet at a game room in the mall, a local park, a skating rink, the movies, a youth function at church or at a local high school football game. But as Lajos Egri has duly noted, life is change. And yes, the smallest disturbance does alter the pattern of the whole. Enter the social networking craze. Statistics show that youth interact on social networks more than they watch television. Reading, in most cases, is non-existent. Social networking seems innocent, but beneath the surface lies more subtle peril. Networks are fertile grazing grounds for sexual predators, cyber-bullies, profanity and intimidation. It is unfortunate that negative effects are becoming far too frequent, and the public can no longer ignore them.
As any business-minded person would affirm, networking is important. It is a way of meeting people of like-interests and like-mindedness. Actors, writers and directors who desire to make it in feature films would do well by networking with other actors, writers and directors. Same scenario with producers and executive producers. If one chooses to remain a hermit, shunning the idea of networking, it is very possible the person will indeed become a hermit. No connection, out of the loop. Socializing is a major advantage to wholesomeness.
Think our children have figured out this idea about networking? Absolutely. And for adults, parents and guardians to ignore their need for socializing is to invite such networks we mentioned earlier. The danger, however, is the intrinsic non-direct human contact. Peril lurks because those who participate in social networking over the Internet, seriously lack true social skills. And because there is no direct contact in a blog or on a personal web page, children tend to reveal too much private information about themselves. Serious consequences follow.
[1] Egri, Lajos, The Art of Dramatic Writing (New York, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004), 49
Pornography- More than sixty-million children surf the worldwide web everyday. Though it is dangerous to assume, it is nevertheless safe to assume our children are not exclusively using search engines for research and education. We trick ourselves and navigate through dark mazes when we presume their online activity is only constructive. Vivid images are directly available and our children are consuming them as a fire consumes a forest. Pornographic material is no respecter of anyone and children of the upper class are no different from the children of the lower class. They all have the same libido.
Years ago, the adult entertainment industry was booming with brick and mortar adult theaters and novelty stores. Some are still around, but they have minimal influence when compared with the internet. Why risk the chance of someone spotting us perusing an adult store, when a computer gives instant access to smut within the privacy of a bedroom? And if we believe that only adults are downloading images and watching explicit videos, then someone has hoodwinked us severely. It is unfortunate, but the industry is seriously stalking younger and younger customers. Young children are easy prey.
The worldwide web has become a safe haven for perverted wackos who get off on manipulating our children. They expose innocent minds to explicit material that would even make many adults cringe.
Predators - Predators in the wild share a common technique. They never show themselves until they spring for the attack. Lionesses crouch in the grass, slowly creeping upon an unsuspecting wildebeest, a zebra or a deer. Cheetahs and leopards do the same. The wolf pack is even more sophisticated. The alpha wolf scopes out the plain, looking for the weakest or smallest prey?the one easiest to attack. The alpha wolf then sends eye signals to the pack. The pack then scatters, zeroing in on the prey the alpha wolf signaled them to. Yes, the Animal Planet and Wild Discovery can teach us a lot about the behavior of predators.
Seems Internet predators have learned the technique. After all, what is a predator? One that preys, destroys and devours. Sound familiar?Animals live by predation, and Internet predators live to prey on our children. It's more than a game to them. It's an obsession. They thrive on manipulating and overpowering innocent young children. They are cunning. They are convincing. And they operate under a different set of guidelines.
According to Parry Aftab, an Internet privacy, security lawyer, columnist for Information Week magazine and Executive Director for WiredSafety?world's largest online safety and help group, one in four US teen girls reported that they met strangers off the Internet. One in seven boys admitted they did as well. While most of these "Internet friends" turn out to be another teen or preteen, that's not always the case. Unfortunately, children are now dying at the hands of their Internet child molesters and, not all sexual exploitation of children occurs offline.
Often we have an image of sexual predators lurking around school playgrounds, cruising around in a van or hiding behind bushes scoping out their potential victims, but the reality is that today's predators search for victims while hiding behind a computer monitor, taking advantage of the secrecy the Internet offers. Today's predator has become savvier and increasingly dangerous.
The Internet has become a buffet line for pedophiles, child exploiters, rapists, sodomites and child pornographers. In our fight to protect our children, we are up against a formidable and complicated foe?the Internet.
Videos - Videos have been around for a very long time. Who could forget the mini-motion picture Thriller by Michael Jackson in 1983? Thriller was a 14-minute music video written and directed by John Landis for the song of the same name. In 2006, it was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful music video, selling a walloping 9 million units. Of course, the young ones were are referencing in this book may not have a clue about Thriller, unless they were schooled by their parents, older cousins, aunts and uncles. Nevertheless, when the infamous video hit the airwaves, it was a step in another direction. From that point on, videographers began to show their creativity. And now, in the 21st century, we are likely to see even greater effects.
But with the popularity of YouTube, one doesn't have to be John Landis to have his/her video plastered across the Internet. While the concept of video sharing has been around for quite some time (on sites like Kazaa and Limewire), only within the past year or so has video-networking become easily available to the general public. Originally, most videos that one would want to share were posted to a personal webpage or a company server for retrieval by others who knew where to look for it. This was due in part to the fact that technology even a short two years ago was not as advanced as it is today, and storing large video files incurred significant costs. As with everything else, technology has advanced to the point where now, storing and sharing videos is as easy as posting a profile on MySpace or sharing pictures.
So, that is how it works. Amazingly, you don't need very expensive equipment to record and upload your material. Those eight teenagers allegedly shot the beating a young girl on a camcorder, then uploaded the file to YouTube and MySpace. Instantly, and with the click of a mouse, anyone and everyone could see the brutal pounding take place. Cell phone video cameras today are highly efficient. Our kids can record an incident and in a matter of minutes, it's on the worldwide web. Most of the video-networking sites require that you register in order to upload videos, but most of those registration requirements are completely free.
In most cases, the Internet is a free medium our kids can exploit to their own liking. In fact, times are getting crucial when our kids can pass nude photos and images of themselves by way of web cams on their computers or the software in their phones.
Cyber-Bullying - In the Bible (1 Samuel 17), we come across a Philistine bully. His name was Goliath. Many people have heard the story of David and Goliath. We even make subtle comparisons in our own lives. For example, a dominant football team that is matched up against an underdog. We say, "A match between David and Goliath." Goliath is always referred to as a giant, something or someone big, a mountain. The Scriptures make it plain?Goliath was a bully. He stood at least 9 feet tall, a stature that no one in Israel could match. Naturally, they were scared. And because of his unusual size, Goliath took advantage of every opportunity to "bully" God's people.
Now, a bully is one who is habitually cruel to others who are weaker. He or she is a person who loves to browbeat other people. Interesting fact, though. Rarely, if ever, do we see a bully attempting to prey on someone bigger or stronger. A fair fight is something most bullies try to avoid. The fear of losing control and the fear of actually getting beat is what motivates the bully to threaten those who are less strong.
Another classic case. In the movie Friday, Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr. starred as the neighborhood bully, Deebo. Every time Deebo would come around, others would hide their personal belongings for fear of them being stolen. We see his character. He stole a beach cruiser bike, he stole a gold-linked chain, forced a weaker young man?Smokey, played by Chris Tucker?into breaking into someone's house and beat up a young lady he was sleeping with. All of Deebo's activity involved the same people, never someone who would actually challenge his exploits. It took Craig Jones, played by Ice Cube to finally step up and fight the bully?David versus Goliath, once again.
However, there is another kind of bullying that has finally grabbed the attention of law enforcement. Cyber-bullying. It is a growing phenomenon and many young children are using the Internet as a means of bullying other young children. It is so bad, that lawmakers have now sanctioned laws to protect the victims. Cyber-bullying is for real and it is ferocious. Parents and guardians must take a stand to protect our kids and to prevent them from participating in what has become a brutal crime.
Online Gaming- For those of us who have had the distinct pleasure of seeing the Jurassic Park movies, how easy would it be to remember the ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex? A hunter. A carnivore. A terror to all who would dare to enter his domain. In the Lost World: Jurassic Park, a pair of T-Rexes hunted the cast down with relentless pursuit. For the audience, it was a nail-biting experience to say the least. Viewers caught a vivid example of one of the fiercest predators known to humanity.
In the real world we see a similar game. As the T-Rex hunted on game trails, another predator hunts on game consoles. Through online gaming, sexual predators have found a new and easy way to hunt down our kids. An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. The most dominant means of playing games through a computer network is the Internet. Long gone are the days where a child would play a simple game of Yars Revenge (1981) by manipulating a joystick and a red button on the Atari 2600 game system. Technology has become more sophisticated and the sexual predators have become as equally advanced.
A game such as Xbox has now completely changed the way our children play video games. Instead of playing against the computer or against best friends sitting next to them, technology has provided our kids with headsets and microphones. Our kids can now "chat it up" with anyone from around the world. Once again, we see Satan's creativity in luring our children into his worldwide web. The dangers are serious and we as guardians must take the threat seriously.
Not only must we guard our children against sexual predators, but we must guard them against online addiction. Growing up playing video games is natural. Our kids learn to compete, while they socially interact. Playing video games is not the danger. In fact, playing them is a lot of fun and can also be a stress reliever, especially with the influx of pokerstars inspired games where players can interact and play with each other for a prize. However, computer and online games can become more than just simple play. If we do not carefully monitor the amount of hours our kids spend in front of the computer, the simple "play" can and will turn into an all-out addiction. When that happens, the psychological and physical well-being of our kids is in serious jeopardy.
Net Banging- Imagine a group of young ruffians, who'd drive through a neighborhood, shoot and kill another group of ruffians, and then drive back to their spot and laugh about it. What kind of demonic mindset is that? What kind of influence would make a young wannabe gangster murder a group of bystanders and feel no guilt? No regret. No remorse. Those of us who live a sheltered life need to hear this alarm. Activity like this happens all the time! And the majority of the perpetrators are not even old enough to have a driver's license.
Yes, thug life is alive and well. Not only is it living and expanding, many of our kids crave to live this kind of lifestyle and aim to take it to greater heights and deeper depths. Hip Hop glamorizes it. The media, for some odd reason, embraces it, and our kids naively believe that gang banging is a lifestyle worth chasing.
Unfortunately, criminal organizations have jumped on the cyberspace bandwagon with just as much sophistication as the pedophiles and sexual predators we discussed earlier. Gangs have gone digital. They are using the Web to recruit kids even as young as eight-years old to join up. "Net Banging" is the "in" thing now. Net bangers participate in everything from selling drugs and guns to operating car theft and prostitution rings. Money, cars and jewelry add weight to the allure, and many troubled teens from poor neighborhoods and broken families see a way to connect.
Gang members with murderous agendas now have access to our kids through the worldwide web. The Internet has become a launching pad to a movement that years ago would establish itself by tagging graffiti in an area they claimed to be theirs. No longer necessary. They don't need to spray paint walls anymore to publicize themselves. At the click of a mouse, murderers, racketeers and extortionists have easy access to children who surf the Internet. Gangs are expanding their territories through Web pages, chat rooms, blogs and social networking sites. Instead of controlling a centralized location, perhaps in another state, gangs have now become national and international organizations.
"Net Banging" refers to a wide variety of gang-related activity on the Web, including the posting of recruitment activities, communication of information among gang members and warfare with rival gangs, all of which look incredibly attractive to curious children. They advertise with as much acuity as car dealers and other businesses who attempt to sell their products to the public. Gangs are selling the gang lifestyle through one of society's most popular media: the Internet.
Too many of our children are falling prey to a vicious cycle that leads to only one of two places?prison and the grave. With the simple click of a mouse, our kids, teens and even younger, can take a guided tour through the life of a notorious gangster.