Matters with Identity Theft

Rosie Baez

English 113B

Professor Lawson

Final Draft-Matters with Identity Theft

Feb 28^th 2013

Word Count:1,219

Matters with Identity Theft

            In over a decade our resources in technology have advanced tremendously. Every year there is some amazing new and better device coming out for everyone to purchase. Everyone gets super thrilled when they see new technology, such as a cellphone chip which will allow you to easily stand in front of a cashier and wave your phone to purchase an item. Also, social networking sites allow you to feel very comfortable putting your personal information on the Internet. However, these advances in technology are actually the causes of numerous cases of identity theft.

            The way I see identity theft is anyone being able to steal all identification about you and using it to their advantage. The identity thief looks for an individual or a family that is wealthy.  In the process of taking people’s identity the thief investigates the victim by searching for information about where they live, how they live, what they do for a living, or basic necessities about their life that they can use. With the information the impersonators have about their victims, they go about their business being whoever they have chosen to steal from. The main items they take are money from savings, checking, and saving bonds that the individual or family might have saved. Another way identity theft could occur is someone taking a social security number to file a tax return to get a refund or using an identity to get a job, which is the case in the video IRS ID Theft Are You a Victim of Identity Theft?. Almost everyone has encountered one form of identity theft. According to Bert-Jaap Koops and Ronald Leenes, there are thousands of victims around the world who have been involved in identity theft cases.  When one hears the words “identity theft” it is easy to imagine victim in a panic, chasing their thieves running away with their identities (“Identity Theft”). To explain further, identity theft does eventually run through people’s minds once they have seen it happen to someone or have heard it on the news. The thief’s main goal is to get the monetary benefits of the victim not just to steal their identity. “Identity criminals do not steal identities: they use identity as a tool to steal money” (“Identity Theft). What often happens is the victim never notices the situation until after he or she realizes the damages the theft caused. People are naïve to identity theft, thinking that it will never happen to them.  

 

 

            When new cell technology comes out every year most people get so excited about it, that they do not realize it can be one of the major causes of identity theft. An article from the Los Angeles Times called “Cell phones to keep track of your purchases and you” discusses the whole idea of new technology making people’s lives much easier. People love the idea of going shopping without the drag of waiting in long lines to purchase what they want or need to get. You just “Wave your phone in front of a reader at the cash register. The purchase price is instantly deducted from your checking account like a debit card or applied to a credit card account”. Instead of the swipe of the credit card, it is as simple as just one wave of a cell phone and the customers are done. There is a downfall to this method because “In theory, anyone -- or any company or government agency -- with a desire to do so would be able to identify you from as much as 300 feet away and track you as you go about your business”. There goes all your personal information that’s meant to be private.

            To give a prime example of how identity theft could easily happen to anyone, I found a funny cartoon picture on identity theft involving an innocent victim on the Internet. The guy in the picture, Mr. Jones, gets a disturbing phone call from an unknown caller who claims he is from his credit card company. The guy who has made the call immediately starts asking all kinds of questions about him and his family. The operator says, “To confirm that I’m speaking with the real Mr. Jones, I’ll need you to tell me your social security number, date of birth, and mother’s maiden name.” Once Mr. Jones answers all of his questions there is a sudden hang-up. Mr. Jones says, “Hello?”, but the identity theft has already begun because he received all of the information he needed to assume Mr. Jones’ identity.  This reveals how people are easily deceived and feel comfortable with giving out their personal information to strangers.





 

            When social networking started people assumed it was just another form of talking. The first social network was Myspace, which allowed users to invite friends they knew or wanted to know to be their friends. They were able to take pictures, chat with friends, even post quotes they were thinking about. Then it evolved to Facebook, Twitter, dating sites, and blogs of some sort. All these networks were made to share who you were or wanted to be, or more. The personal information may include the following: birthday, where you live, photos of yourself, age, where you may work, also where you have traveled. We have never stopped to think what we are posting on these social networks and we should. People can effortlessly track where people are or have traveled because of how loosely people share their lives on these social networking sites. I have had personal experience because I was one of those users who would share certain things about me on the social sites. This one girl that I went to high school with would make several false profiles using me to be her to talk to other people. (Mainly guys). I caught her doing it three times. She would use my pictures, my name, my age, and constantly talk to whoever she felt like talking to. Finally I reported her to the police so she would stop doing what she did. The police told me I was not the only one she had done this to. Ever since then I have been more cautious what I put up on these websites. The article Detecting Spammers on Social Networks talks about the way social networking affects adolescents into today’s society. Teenagers spend too much of their free time on these popular sites sharing all their personal details about them. With the information they share, “for example, cybercriminals might exploit the implicit trust relationships between users in order to lure victims to malicious websites. As another example, cybercriminals might find personal information valuable for identity theft or to drive targeted spam campaigns”.  We need to be watchful for what we share online because we never know who is watching us on the other side of the screen.

             Identity theft is a serious problem that should not be taken lightly. There are too many identities being stolen that sometimes lead to tragedies. We have to learn how to keep personal information private to protect our identities from strangers. All our personal information makes us who we are so we should value that and not give it out so easily. Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and have a better private future.          

 Works Cited

Bert-Jaap koops, Ronald Leenes Identity theft, identity fraud and/or identity-related crime Sep. 2006. Feb 10^{th 2013}.

Callcentercomics. Comic Strip. callcentercomics.com. Web. Feb 7^th2013

Stringhini, Gianluca, Christopher Kruegel, and Giovanni Vigna. "Detecting Spammers on Social Networks." Proceedings of the 26th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference, (2010): 1-9. Feb 26^th 2013

IRS - ID Theft Are You a Victim of Identity Theft? Youtube. Published March 16, 2012. Web. Feb 9^th.    

Larzaus, Daid Cellphones to keep track of your purchases -- and you “Los Angeles Times” march 16, 2008. Web Feb 11^{th 2013}.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Problems with Socia Media - "Cyber Bullying"

 The Problems with Socia Media - "Cyber Bullying"

 

Cyber Bullying = Psychological Destruction ??

Technology has been a problem solver and problem creator for modern generations, besides the bad use of it, which has given the worse reputation ever to it. Currently people around the world have the possibility to communicate with friends, family, and unknown people by just reaching a simple click of button. Therefore, social media can be dangerous. Anyone can have access to internet everywhere and at any time, not to socialize, but to attack others with bad intentions. One of the brutalities that social media and technology has been involved with is Cyber Bullying. This recent obsession with harassment has caused agony and even suicides. And it is been proven that teens are among the majority of such cases around the world. While we celebrate the advanced networking, outside there are cases where others risk their lives because of it. People take advantage of social media such as cellphones, Facebook, MySpace, and other social networks to harass other users of internet which can lead to Cyber Bullying.
 

            Anyone can become a victim of cyber bullying, due to the fact that by using the web we are strongly exposed to any kind of aggressions. The negative communication between users of the internet more often has been resulted in death. Insulting others through social media can “kill” them internally. Just one powerful word can cause such as an awful tragedy. Because people currently increased the use of technology such as devices and wireless/Internet, not to mention the exploding popularity of social media sites, there is more chance to be a victim of cyber bullying (Swearer, 4). With today’s technology bullying has become easier than ever; the children and youth adults of this generation do not need to have personal confrontation. This is the case of one of my best friends that committed suicide after being bullied and cyber bullied. Andres was a 17 year old boy, who had the sweetest heart ever. He was always putting a big smile on our faces. He came from Nayarit, Mexico about three years before the tragedy. He was starting to speak English and many people around him had high expectations from him. I had him for most of my classes; this is why we became very close friends. One day, he decided to move up to regular classes with no help from ESL students. The first three weeks of regular classes for Andres were the most intense of all. Our peers were bullying him during school classes or by MySpace/Facebook because of his accent and his background. He did not want to pay attention to those comments, but in reality they were affecting him little by little.  Andres decided to move out from that High School and transferred to another school in Sacramento. A while later I found out that Andres had committed suicide. His family did not notice what those aggressions were doing to him, as well as his friends that never thought it would end up with a tragedy. No one was suspicious about the harm that bullies and cyber bullies were doing to him. This tragedy occurred all of a sudden and impacted not only the close people to him, but the entire community. Him as well as children and teens around the world are being bullied and cyber bullied and nobody do anything about it. This problem could be inside house and no one notices it. Victims of cyber bullying think that there is no way to go; that there is no solution to stop the aggressions and that is not true. There are lots of organizations waiting for those who need help one of them is stopbullying.gov.
 

According to the article “Cyberbullying” one of the articles in Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection says that kids spend so much time communicating with their peers in front of a computer or cellphone, with the consequences of being losing the social skills needed for real interactions with others. This could be happening home; Children with the privilege of having cellphone, computer or any devise are more worried about being online or socializing with “friends” by social media, but not having a good time somewhere with your loved ones. There is many ways to know if children are being cyber bullied or bullied. For example, refusing to go to school, not going out with friends, and angry with him/herself, those are just some of the characteristics of cyber bullied victims. Statistics show that “victims of cyber bullying have fewer friends than average and are more likely to feel lonely at school (Cyberbullying, 2, 4).”  Furthermore, in the article “Ongoing and online: Children and youth’s perceptions of cyber bullying” written by Faye Mission, Michael Saini, and Steven Solomon, they found out that children spend at least three hours per day sitting in front the computer instead of watch television with the family (Misson,2). One reason why children are all day in social websites is because they feel alone and they want to have the sensation that someone cares about them, taking in mind that their parents are not there for them because of work of personal problems.

 Another issue with cyber bullying is the fact that parents have a hard time preventing it because, children feel like they can take care of things but then it gets to overwhelming and they end up risking their lives.  As an example of it, there is a movie called “Cyberbully”. In this movie Taylor the protagonist of the film interprets a 17 year old girl who is raised by her mother. Taylor and her younger brother share the computer that is placed in the living room. On her birthday her mother gives her a laptop just for her, so she will not share it with her brother. She is excited because has the independence of going online without her mother always keeping an eye on her. Some people from school start to make fun of her online and Taylor becomes afraid to face them in school. Suddenly, Taylor meet James online and she think he is cute and sweet, but he is only trying to humiliate her. Taylor becomes depress, because the harassment she is ongoing. At the end, she succumbs to depression and posts a video online saying that she can no longer live with herself. Her “friend” who creates another account online with another identity “James” feels very guilty witnessing Taylor’s strong reaction (ready to kill herself). People are unknown of the identity and purpose of networking users. 

Some people must say that allowing internet access to children in home is safer than being exposed to be attacked outside. But what they do not realize is that assaults, insults and jeers are everywhere, even at home. In these days there is no safe place, because something could be happening inside home and nobody will know about it. Children could be on risk by using social networks; they could be victims or even more extreme situation, being the aggressors of other children by getting access to chat rooms, see unwanted material, or bully other children without others knowing about it. The problem is when we want to know who is responsible for the attacks online, we never find out who is doing it, because of many fake names that are being used in order to “hide behind the screen.” Cyber bullying makes it easier for bullies because they are not face-to-face with their victim, so the victim cannot defend itself. That is the case of Taylor the girl from the movie “Cyberbully”, where she is been aggressed by her best friend. Her friend changed her name and used the identity of a guy that was trying to be friendly with her, but that ended harassing her and making Taylor attempts against her life.
 

To conclude, we can say that bullying can happen to anyone. The impact this matter has within society has increased throughout recent years. Social media, technology, even stereotypes, and ways of thinking of people have tremendously contributed positively but mostly negatively in the way that people get into the contact zone in which one can be exposed to anything, either bad or good. Therefore, those who are willing to survive any type of bullying have the option to overcome it by reaching out for help. Furthermore, people may think that they are alone and that no one would understand. Self-esteem is the first cognitive part that is affected. This may lead to depression and even for one to commit suicide. I can say that affected people are not alone. There is hope and answer for what people may being going through. Look forward to solve cyber bullying issues or even others not related with this topic from the most adequate manner and not committing something that would affect others with our actions. The first step in the pursuing of bullying overcome is to get help and keep in mind that there is a solution for everything.

 

 

Project Web Essay

Social Media, Texting, and Bad Grammar

"LOL" and" OMG" have been the acronyms of the decade and have become a trend in the way people communicate. Social media has expanded so much that people are becoming dependent on the Internet and are creating their own language. Social media is making the younger generation develop bad grammar. This issue is a problem because it is making society incapable of structuring coherent sentences, making people unable to communicate in professional and academic manner. The time being spent on social media outlets cuts down on the time focusing on education and grammar. Social media also teaches bad habits, because when people do the same mistake repeatedly on these cites they internalize them as correct making the same mistake when writing an academic paper. Although some argue that social media helps people communicate better in their daily lives, social media and texting are placing a burden on education. Social media has promoted one from learning academic and professional communication skill and promoting bad grammar. Social media is prompting bad grammar because people are accustomed to writing and reading colloquially when they write academic essays.

Bad grammar has gotten so severe that news channels have made segments talking about social media and bad grammar. In Tyler, Texas there is a local news station named Channel 19 KYTX that did a segment on social media and bad grammar. This video talks about how students are trying to use internet slag in their essays because they use them on social networking sites. We now live in a world where social media limits our communication technique, trying to get our message across quickly we tend to keep conversations short using short hand. Kaylee McPherson says to KYTX, "I don't even put periods, question marks or anything. I just type it and go" (Austin).With the generation being based in technology, people end up not only texting in acronyms but also using them in speech. McPherson states "Now, they actually start talking it. I hear people talking and I'm like you kind of sound dumb" (Austin). Not only are teenagers using shorthand on social media but also in the classroom. Melanie McNeils, a high school English teacher, says that when she grades papers she sees the lingo in their essays. Melanie McPherson says, "Ok, this is one I see a lot. B4=before, OMG=oh my god, u=you, y=why" (Austin). Instead of McNeil giving her students no credit for that type of language used in their essays, she talks to her students about the "difference between casual language and academic language" and when it is the appropriate time to use the two (Austin). This web lingo has increased so much that even the Oxford English dictionary has added the words: "Lol, Omg,Tweet, Retweet and even Sext"(Austin). The Oxford dictionary adding weblingo shows how much texting and social media have expanded because being put in a dictionary means that they are real words in the English language. There is justification that the world is changing due to social media, from bad grammar to cyber bullying to kids posting naked pictures on social media sites. Ontario Waterloo University in Canada requires students to pass an English language skills test in order to be accepted into the university. According to the statistics, "Almost a third of those students are failing and they're blaming social media for it"(Austin). Ontario Waterloo is a great educational example of how we can resolve the grammar problem. People should be happy that Universities are taking such an effect on this problem and are trying to do something about it. Maybe then at least the younger generation will try harder to fix their grammar and spend less time on social media sites in order to get into a good university and further their education. Bad grammar and social media go hand in hand. People are so excited to send an instant message that they use shorthand of words and do not use full sentences. This is a severe problem that needs to be addressed and people need to communicate effectively to change the bad grammar that our generation has developed. Being dependant on social media affects people because they only know how to communicating on way which is through slang and informal language.

Switching from academic to colloquial language is difficult for most being accustomed to changing the language and it is declining grammar skill. In the article, "No LOL matter: Tween texting may lead to poor grammar skills" by S Shyman Sundar, who is a Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Pen State's Media Effects Research Laboratory discussed how texting leads to poor grammar skills. In this article it discuss how tweens who are in the age range between nine and fourteen are texting in acronyms and " are [leading to a] decline [in] language and grammar skills"(Sundar par. 1). Text messaging may be an easy and fast way for one to communicate according to Drew Cingel, who is a former undergraduate student in communications at Penn State and currently a doctoral candidate in media, technology and society at Northwestern University. Sundar states " The use of these shortcuts may hinder a tween's ability to switch between techspeak and normal rules of grammar"(Sundar par. 5). Teachspeak is when someone uses shortcuts while texting, on a social media site or chatting, such as "U" for "You." Cingel gave middle school children in Pennsylvania a grammar assessment test at a 9th grade level to see if everyone was up to par. She eventually stated after receiving the scores, "Overall, there is evidence of a decline in grammar scores based on the number of adaptions in sent text messages"( Sundar par. 8). The more that social media and texting have improved the more it is dimming people down. The more people text the more they will adapt to the type of style and will not be able to distinguish whether they are writing proper or not. In high school, I always experienced teachspeak, when I was in my English class the teacher would tell us to peer review each other's essay. I would always notice that in every paper I would peer review I would at least see one or more tachspeak errors where someone would 'u' instead of 'you' and 'wud ' instead of 'would' and so forth . Researchers have stated that teachspeak is affecting children's grammar and I have a good example that proves it happened to me.

Some may say that social media has been a way to connect with our lost love ones and some researchers have stated that social media is the downfall of the generation. The Internet is growing rapidly and it and has created many alternative ways for one to get information such as Dictionary.com, where one can look up a definition instead of grabbing a dictionary and instead of reading a book there are books online that you can use on your iPad or Kindle. Social media and texting has had a downfall on our grammar and it is getting harder to multitask. In the article, "Yes, People Still Read, But Now It's Social" by Steven Johnson it explains how people are reading books on a Kindle but Mr.Carr's who is the author of, "The Shallows" states, "These distraction comes with heavy cost scientific studies show how multitasking harms our concentration"(Johnson pg 427). The problem is that when people use such iPads and Kindles to read books they end up surfing the bed and get distracted. Due to social media such as Twitter, Facebook,and YouTube etc. being used all at once people are less likely to be able to focus. People who multitask more are going to be faced with certain challenges in school when they are not able to concentrate in their studies. According to a study they found out that, "Heavy multitasking performed about about 10 to 20 percent worse on most test than light multitasking" (Johnson pg. 427). So it is true that social media can make us dumb, people may read books on Kindle and might be happy that they are reading books but Mr.Carr's concern is that people are not thinking with a high-level mind set and people are reading pages on a screen. I feel like if society is going to depend on the internet eventually people will stop talking in complete and full sentences and will start using acronyms and that will affect people's grammar when they are trying to write in an educational matter.

The statistics for text messages have increased over the years. According to the Chicago Tribute that stated that Pew Research claims, "72% of adults and 87% of teens send and receive text messages"(Hameker par.2). It is not only the teenagers that are constantly texting but also adults who are texting away. An executive editor of the American Heritage Dictionary named Steve Kleindetr says that when you text you may want to pay close attention to your attention. Kleinder gives us an example, " If you're texting a friend who has difficulty with loose grammatical standards, be sure to spell out 'u' "(Hameker par. 2). This is a great point that Kleinder stated, one must always think about the audience if it is either sending a text message or an email. No one will send an email to their boss saying 'Sup, cant make 2 wrk L8ts' and especially if you had a friend who struggles with grammar you would write out everything clearly. Grammar is a huge part of our society and, "People will always judge you, so write with that in mind," Kleinedler says (Hamaker par.2). I personally have never written in short hand, reason being that I struggle in English and I am not a very good speller, and if I write using colloquialisms I would not help myself. That is why I made a pact with myself to always write in complete sentences if I am either texting on Facebook or Twitter no matter what. This has actually been beneficial to me because I have never written colloquiums in my essays. I might still be a bad speller but, at least I do not do it on purpose.

Our generation will never be the same because the Internet will always have some sort of power over us and with the development of technology increasing there is nothing we can do but educate ourselves. Just because everyone is texting and on Facebook sounding illiterate does not mean we have to do it too. We must take a stand and show society that the generation might be powered with technology but we are using it for our education and other beneficial things. Grammar will always be a problem and it can be fixed, but with so many Social media outlets using Weblingo there is no way everyone will stop trying to be "cool" and rebel against it. Some people will not want to do it but they are dumb-ing themselves down. People need to learn how to talk proper and how to communicate instead of through Facebook and over a text. If this issue is not fixed our generation will be destroyed and there will be no way to fix it.

The Dangers of Online Dating Essay

The Dangers of Online Dating

            The internet has progressed and continues to progress as time passes. The internet is a place where people can meet and communicate with each other. Whether they are in two completely different locations or the same location, the internet has helped us communicate as if we are right next to each other. The internet has also been constructed in a way where people can date online. The internet can be helpful but it can also be dangerous when it comes to online dating. People face many different types of dangers when they are associated with online dating because this world is filled with people who only want to cause damage to other innocent people. Online dating is dangerous because anyone can create a false profile that makes other people believe they are real but then lead to letdowns, predators and criminals use these sites to find victims, and finally because these sites portray themselves as a trusting site when it is just filled with false advertisement.

            There are many online dating sites such as match.com, eharmony.com, christianmingle.com, and much more. Unfortunately these sites are full of people who have created a false profile for themselves. Many of these fake people can be very dangerous because they can be rapists, sex offenders, criminals, etc. and they are portraying themselves as innocent regular people. The picture below portrays a man that is using a false profile he had created for online dating; this guy is full of lies because of how he portrays himself on his matchers.com profile. It depicts him as sexy, single and wealthy but by comparing his online profile to his actual self, which is a fat, ugly, and married man, anyone can tell that it’s fake, unfortunately other online daters wouldn’t know that. There was an online dating scam that involved Tim Dog, a 1990’s rapper. He pleaded guilty for grand larceny because he convinced a woman named Esther Pilgrim to gather $32,000 in credit card debt. Tim Dog lied to Esther Pilgrim because Tim Dog was trying to gather money for his comeback album. These are examples of the online dating letdowns because it is easy to create a fake profile and manipulate other people into thinking that the fake people are real. The scary part about these letdowns is when a criminal or a predator is trying to find a victim to harm.   

 

            When it comes to online dating, criminals or predators take advantage because they feel that online dating sites are bursting with victims they can harm. They create a fake profile that can take about 5 minutes to make and soon enough they are searching the site looking for a gullible victim they can put their hands on. Match.com was sued for $10 million by Mary Kay Beckman, Beckman met Wade Ridley online and Wade had the intentions to kill Beckman but failed to do so. As a matter of fact Wade Ridley confessed to have killed a woman named Anne Simenson, who he had met on Match.com. This is just one of the many criminals that are out there using these online dating sites as bait. People continue to use these online dating sites not having a clue about the many dangers that can occur. The reason why people still use these sites is because of the false advertisements that are portrayed.

            Many times on T.V. we see online dating advertisements, they always have at least two couples who have met and been married due to that site. The commercial only says that the couple has met and has been married for a certain amount of time but how do the viewer’s know if that is true? People just choose to believe this non sense only because it was on television. They feel that since it is on T.V. it has to be a real success. These online dating advertisements don’t speak about the possible dangers that can happen because then the online dating sites are afraid to lose money and “trust”. Beckman’s lawyer told KLAS that “adsfor the dating site give consumers no sense of the risks involved with onlinehook-ups” (David Knowles). These online dating advertisements are filled with lie and deceit and it’s unfortunate to see people get hurt, killed, or left disappointed due to these “trustful” websites. These advertisements do not fully convey everything about the site to the viewer, all they depict is the “good things” about online dating. Although they avoid the dangers, discussing possible solutions to avoid these online dating dangers wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

It’s difficult to come up with solutions to prevent these online dating dangers but it isn’t impossible. There are many things that these companies can do to protect their users from these dangers. The article “Common Sense Is Needed to Face theDangers of Online Dating Sites” is written by an anonymous writer known as the single city guy, but he actually gives a possible solution that companies can do to protect the online dating users. He states that, “…large marketing campaigns are created for selling a product, there could be marketing campaigns to inform the public of online dating safety. Even then, there's more they can do” (Single City Guy). These companies need to realize that in order for people to trust these sites, the companies need to discuss the dangers and safety tips to keep the users away from danger. There are many things that companies can do to solve the madness of online dating dangers. If online dating companies were smart and protected their users, they would not have to worry about lawsuits, complaints, and resentment. If they cared, they would gain users, publicity, and most importantly trust.

            I personally wouldn’t try online dating because I have trust issues when it comes to meeting complete strangers. Once I met this guy named Tom Johnson on Facebook, I had no idea who he was and he sent me a message. I replied back to his message and later in the conversation he was confessing to me that he was white supremacists, who killed 1 Black man and 1 Hispanic man. I was freaking out because this guy actually knew who I was and he was threatening me by saying that if I said anything he would come after me. I didn’t believe this person, I thought it was just a sick joke but eventually other people around Facebook had an encounter with “Tom Johnson”. Whether this person was fake or real this is an example of crazy people who stalk the internet. Obviously in an online dating site no one will introduce themselves like Tom Johnson did but they will act as if they are innocent and once its time to meet, the real Tom Johnson comes out.

             Online dating sites can be dangerous due to the people who use it. Some people will portray themselves in a truthful manner but others will not. Others will make themselves look like they are perfect when in reality they are posers, criminals, or predators. Online dating sites are mainly dangerous because of all the fake profiles that lead to disappointment, all the criminals or predators seeking for victims, and all the lies that the advertisements present so people can trust online dating. It’s a shame that the internet is packed with low lives that want to cause disappointment or harm to others, but hopefully one day there will be a solid solution that will put an end to the dangers of online dating.

No Communication Just Use Technology

Can We Talk in Person?

Today’s technology has become vitally important in today’s society for its rapid connections to the social world and connecting people around the world. Currently, technology has advanced so rapidly and changed the way people have been able to communicate with their peers. Communicating with people is possible through technology because of the various ways of interaction such as: Skype, texting, and other technological devices. In addition, technology continues to be modified and frequently used for people to continue communicating with their friends, families, colleagues, business associates, etc. in matter of seconds without actually speaking face-to-face. However, the problem is the more people try to interact with their peers through technology; there will be less interest in forming close, personal interactions and relationships with each other. Even though technology has influenced people to various access of communication through technology, it negatively affects how people maintain relationships because of the lack of face-to-face communication.

People have forgotten the traditional way to communicate through face to face communication because technology has alternatives to have personal interactions. Communicating through technology is not the same as interacting face-to-face, thus misunderstanding messages between them. The article “The Lost Art of Face-to-Face Communication” by Stacey Hanke, owner of 1^stImpression Consulting, Inc. states that sometimes when using technology to converse, “there is no emotional connection towards the other person to understand the tone, inflection, or emotion that is carried with the words” (para.4). Hanke reports that when people use technology like cellphones people do not understand the in-depth meaning of the message; instead focus on the broad topic. She affirms that communicating through technology may cause misinterpretations of the emotional meaning through conversations, thus creating a problem trying to understand each other throughout the personal interaction. Hanke verifies that conversing with someone face-to-face; more attention and focus is displayed in the person speaking because of their emotions, language, and the face-t-to-face interaction. In addition, interacting with technology interferes with people communicating verbally and connecting on a personal, intimate level. Avoiding personal, face-to-face communication affects the chances of close relationships forming and succeeding. Recently, there was a picture on the Internet where a young lady is reaching out her hand to shake a young man’s hand; meanwhile, his head is looking down preoccupied with his cellphone. Below the picture, there is a caption that reads in caps lock “Texting”, is more important than human contact” (“Texting is More Important than Human Contact”1). The picture is commentary on technology and communication and shows how people choose to communicate with their electronic device instead of trying to interact with the person face-to-face. The young man is a representation of society choosing to maintain connections and “talk” through technology; while another part of society represent the young lady who prefers interacting with the young man face-to-face. The image reflects the negative outcome of replacing the significance of face-to-face relations to associate with other people, because it shows the ignorance and lack of interest technology allows people to interact towards each other. Furthermore, overuse of technology may influence people to ignore the positive outcomes of face-to-face communication.

Some reports may claim technology is beneficial for people to communicate and become in touch with each other as an alternative to physically seeing or speaking to them. Such claim from the CSUN newspaper sundial published, “ProCon: Social Networking and Your Love Life” by Ira Caminong, states that “Social sites also allow for friendships to be maintained and old connections rekindled, because profiles give users the opportunity of connecting with distant friends and relatives in ways they couldn’t offline” (para.6). Caminong describes technology as a new way to relate to each other and keep in touch with long distant relatives. Ira supports that technology increases the many interactions throughout the countless connections available in the Internet. She informs that technology is beneficial to gain access with close peers and form relationships. However, Caminong overlooks the failure of face-to-face communication because interception of technology causes people to physically ignore and talk to each other. Another contributor Naomi Ogaldez, observes that, “People are not only behaving based on what they are learning from the media, but also through their use of social media” (para.5). She affirms that technology is a form of a distraction towards progressing in relationships and influences people to use it to their advantage and interrupting the use face-to-face communication. People’s excessive use of technology interrupts traditional communication because they learn multiple accesses of recent technological advances that replace speaking to each other. Ogaldez informs that the attention and focus on technological devices to interact with each other will decrease face-to-face communication. However, there are ways traditional communication prospers.

Face-to-face communication implemented during personal socialization increases the effectiveness of personal communication with others. The article posted by Virginette Acacio, “The Benefits of Face-to-Face Communication” points out, “There’s a feeling of community because we’re better able to socialize and interact with one another.” “We quickly build a bond that sets the foundation for trust and ultimately, lasting business relationships” (para.4). Acacio verifies that face-to-face communication is a necessity to forming stronger relationships that technology cannot provide successfully. Using technology can provide connectivity depending on distance but personal close relationships are formed and valued while talking one on one with each other. Using various technologies to connect with each other is not the same when socializing, speaking and familiarizing with one another. People depend too much on technology that they conform connecting from far away, which interrupts the ability to adapt to face-to-face interaction. Building relationships begins through verbal, close, and face-to-face contact which seems to fade because technology replaces the emotional effects that a normal interaction would value. Face-to-Face communication is fading throughout society and it should not be ignored because as technology is used daily, people will grow apart from each other while they stare and “connect” with technology.

Face-to-face communication is decreasing the ability to connect with a person through conversations. Technology offers people wide spread access to use their devices to interact and form relationships. Relationships are in need of more talking and socializing without the use of technology. Also, people that use technology should know well enough that their relationships do not have to be through technology, as it can sometimes fail. Interacting on a personal level is better than using technology because people can easily understand each other and know their true emotions. People that use technology are in charge of their own lives and should be able to distinguish the differences between relationships through technology and face-to-face communication. Face-to-face communication provides special significance to associate instead of using symbols or others “meaningful” symbols to form relationships. Traditional communication is an important factor that creates closer bonds between people when trying to get to know them. People take advantage of technology withholds from noticing others as a barrier that blocks people from communicating. Communication is effective when people talk to each other in situations that cannot be solved through technology. However, as long as, technology increases the opportunity to gain access to the outside world, at the same time people are losing their personal interaction. Society has rapidly adjusted to various technological communication accesses that do not seem to find an issue that face-to-face communicating is a valued opportunity to create stronger, successful relationships or bonds. 

Amanda Todd Suicide caused by Cyber Bullying

Suicide and Cyber Bullying

Amanda a 15 year old girl described in the video how the photo led to cyberbullying and bullying at school and then depression and anxiety, drug and alcohol use, self-harm, and even a suicide attempt. She told one specific story of being beat up by a girl after she "hooked up" with the girl's boyfriend. "She threw me to the ground and punched me several times," Todd wrote on a cue card she held up in the video. "Kids filmed it. I was all alone and left on the ground." She said she "wanted to die so bad" when her father found her, then drank bleach and was rushed to the hospital; students continued to bully her over the incident and suggest she drink bleach again. She tried to scape of those aggressions by moving out of town and changing school but wherever she went, all the bullyings followed her.
 It is very sad seen how quickly we can destroy a person!!!

Statistics of Online Dating

Since I have only been been discussing about the dangers of online dating, I want to provide a post where you all can see statistics of online dating. This chart shows the statistics of the following; online dating statistics, what's more important on a first date, type of hair color most people are attracted to, girls prefer, guys prefer, and online dating facts. Some of these statistics have been really helpful in developing my essay. Although it does not give much statistics about dangers it, it does give a small percentage of sex offenders who use online dating sites.