Chapter 4 – Are Sexual Predators Lurking Everywhere?
It’s scary to think about all the sexual predators out there in the world, lurking in the shadows or behind technology screens for their next victim. This chapter went explained why some parents have a fear of letting their teenagers use social media. Social Media began its journey in this world in the early 2000s. MySpace was one social media platform created first and this platform began raising anxieties and fears in many adults of children and even children themselves. Parents have every right to be worried or have anxiety about their children and who they are communicating with. There are very sick and disgusting people out there wanting to hurt others and even children. For example, today as I am typing this, I scrolled through my Facebook newsfeed and saw an article about a 23-year-old college girl who had been missing for almost 2 weeks was found murdered and burned in a house. I know this girl is not a teenager, but she is a daughter to some parents out there. Apparently, the college girl met up with someone she was communicating with online and something happened and now she is dead. The little I read in the story, it said that she was found in a house and her body plus her belongings were burned. I am sure her parents and family are wondering what happened or who this mystery person that she met up with is. Possibly could be having thoughts of all the what ifs that they could have said to her to make her more aware of the dangers on social media.
Social media has made it so much easier for sexual predators to find victims from all over the country and/or world. Predators can use these platforms and lie about who they are to lure their victims in and once they agree to meet up, its usually too late. In this chapter, the infamous show To Catch A Predator was discussed. This show basically would have a person as bait usually a teenager’s age range and would plan to meet up. When the person got to the house, the bait person would step out into another room and the host Chris Hansen would come in. The predator would be arrested and taken off to jail. That show just opened the eyes of many about the dangers of social media. For me, it really made me be more conscience as to what I put out into the worldwide web. To this day, my dad still will say stuff about having a digital footprint and to keep it as minimal as possible.
I lived through the creation of social media in the early 2000s and was a teenager at the time. My first social media platform was AOL instant messenger o also known as AIM. I created my screenname when I was 10 years old, so that was even before I was technically a teenager. My parents had the typical concerns like I read about like do not talk to strangers when you are online or anywhere in public. I feel like I used AIM the most in middle school and some in high school, but during the hay day entering random chat rooms and requesting everyone to say their A/S/L (Age, Sex, Location) was the norm. May not have been the smartest thing to reveal about yourself, but I never seemed to be highly worried about it because I knew better than to give out my address or any other important information about myself. I remember one time talking to this guy who lived in Hawaii at the time, I was probably 13-14 and I felt like such a rebel by doing that without my parents knowing. Luckily nothing ever happened, and I lost touch with the Hawaiian guy. Sadly AOL Instant Messenger/AIM was officially ended recently if I am remembering correctly. Oh the memories I will forever have. 😊
MySpace was the next form of social media that I obtained at the request of my friends. I enjoyed personalizing my profile and picking my Top 8 friends to be listed on my profile. I remember many fights happened due to the ordering of the Top 8 friends on people’s profile pages. Petty fights in my opinion. I also got a Facebook profile within months of making my MySpace profile. I remember being one of the first people to have a facebook since it was opened up to high schoolers. When facebook was created it was meant for college students only and to see how much it has grown is insane. I currently have multiple social media platforms, but I do not use them as frequently as other people do. I have Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram and now Twitter.
Chapter 8 – Searching For A Public Of Their Own
I am sure many of you remember being an angsty teen and wanting space from your parents to spend time with your friends alone. What did you all do to remedy that? Go to the mall? The movies? Other public place? Many teenagers feel the same way, they want space from their parents and privacy. They feel that they are grown up and know what to do and how to deal with negative situations. Again, as stated above, predators lurk everywhere just waiting for that perfect moment to snatch up their next victims. Due to all the dangers and predators in the world, kids/teenagers feel forced to stay home or stay at friends houses. The world is just not safe anymore to be able to allow the freedom that teens from the past were able to experience. In this chapter, one of the little stories mentioned how a teenage girl was not willing to walk or bike around her neighborhood since her friends were about 10 miles away or more. This girl did not even want to do a simple walk or bike ride because of the dangers that her parents told her about and how anything can happen anywhere. And yes, anything can happen anywhere, but you also only have one life to live. Nothing is better than to live in the present and enjoy the life that you have while you have it.
When I was growing up, I remember spending tons of time at the mall, movies or even public park areas just to get some time with friends away from our parents. I guess in the moment I was just having a good time, but many times predators can attack in public places. I know as a teen; my friends and I found many public areas to have that alone time that we were desperately craving for. Being in school, just wasn’t the same because we typically would get yelled at if we were talking to much to our peers. I remember freshman year in high school, my best guy friend and I got separated in one of our classes because we were talking too much and causing disruptions to my teacher as he taught. It was mostly my best friend being stupid and he ruined that opportunity for us to sit together in class.
Teenagers just want a place where they can spend time with friends away from their parents, but also away from the terrible situations from being prey to a predator would entail. Adults would probably be supportive of this idea if every town could create a building where teenagers can hang out, dance together, play games or sports, have food and also be safe all at the same time. This place should include metal detectors and security guards just to keep the atmosphere safe while these teens have fun. Just an Idea to think about for our future generations. Another option, could be to add some more time to the school day in order to create time within class or classes for students to socialize for a little while. If that cannot be done, create a block period where students can meet up in a courtyard area or another specified location where they can socialize for awhile during the school day. I am not sure how this could be remedied, but finding some kind of option would be great.
As long as social media is around, predators will be lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce on their unsuspecting victims.
Emily's Educational Thoughts 