Dark Side of Media

In Chapter 9 of the New New Media textbook, it starts to talk about the more darker side of new media because like most things in life there is always two sides to a situation. Obviously something that we use every single day like the new media devices such as the Internet; we tend to not so much stand back and look at the big picture of what its doing for us and what harm it may be causing. For the person who is technologically sound and has a well understanding of what some of the harmful threats they may encounter, they may not need to take notice. However some people on the Internet today, an example being a young kid in middle school, might not know the dangers or the darker side of new media that unfortunately some people have to deal with.

To me if someone were to ask the biggest danger people face when they use knew media is online gossiping and cyberbullying. This to me needs to be directed more towards a younger audience because they need to learn young what the dangers are of reading things online and having the pressure of other kids talking through a computer. This is a problem that just seems to keep growing and growing and will continue to do so until some realize what the affects are from doing so. I believe we have to teach our youth to not listen to what other kids say on the Internet, to not even snoop to their level and let it just go over their head. Easier said than done but I truly believe if you condition someone to not listen to the gossip and be above it that it wont effect them and they will benefit.

Like we discussed in class I don’t believe that it will ever truly be solved because your still going to have that little prick in school that no one really enjoys being around because their parents have no guidance for them so they have to make fun of other kids. As much as I hate seeing it happen it still does and still will. So my opinion is instead of trying to prevent them, you just have to condition the “normal” kids who don’t have problems to see over that prick kid who’s just trying to get a rise out of you. The world isn’t a pretty place all the time so I think that kids need to be able to protect themselves by being what I like to call strong minded, but the hard part is we are talking about young adolescents who are going through a crazy time in life.

As stated on Commonsensemedia.org “Appearance, conformity, and acceptance by peers is of utmost importance. As your teen is trying to fit in with peers, he or she may be struggling with how to make good choices and define ethical behavior. Teens may not want to tell you if they encounter cyberbullying.” Parents need to also be more understanding about what their child will be going through and how hard it can be to “fit-in” with other classmates without taking that wrong step. Obviously it shouldn’t have to be like that for anyone no matter what circumstance but it does so parents need to do the only thing they can do as of now and that is protect.

One last important note is that parents themselves need to want to be more aware of whats going on with their kids, not being over protective and know everything, but have their kids comfortable enough where they can come to them with a problem. No kid should feel like he or she cannot go to their parents to talk to them about a situation that happened at school I mean its your family.

Source:

"Stand up to Cyberbullying." Reviews & Age Ratings. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. <http://www.commonsensemedia.org/cyberbullying>.