Although new new media might have its dark side, I feel that the negative perceptions people have of it generally stem from misunderstanding. Yes there are cyberstalking and cyberbullying, but I feel as though if you are smart when using the Internet and social networking sites, these threats can be greatly diminished. If someone posts revealing pictures online and has a lot of followers, the wrong person, or people, might enjoy the pictures too much, and this could turn into a potentially dangerous situation. However, the potential for him or her to get a cyberstalker would be reduced if the pictures never went up in the first place. Yet this becomes hard with today's increased prevalence of social networking sites. If peoples' friends are the ones uploading the pictures, the person who is in them may or may not have an option to have them online (for example, if the friend refuses to take them down).
Overall, I may be naive, but I feel as though these problems can be avoided. I do think new new media can be used for good especially in cases like those that Dr. Levinson referenced with Twitter and terrorism as well as using YouTube as a way to identify perpetrators. There is always a dark side to something, but if the people using the medium are smart and careful, their chances of being virtually or ultimately physically assaulted should be reduced.
Short debate about social media and society...
The problem is how to protect individuals who are most vulnerable?
ReplyDeleteI think that people who are vulnerable in the realm of new new media are those that don't know about the potential dangers of it. If they are educated and made aware of what could potentially happen and how to avoid getting put into unfavorable situations, then hopefully they would choose to act responsibly online.
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