International Association Of Independent Journalists Inc.

[Ainsley]

When do we draw the line?


By: Ainsley Wronski, Editor: The Fortress Newspaper


With all of the technologies that one can choose from today, it makes it very easy to keep in contact with people anywhere in the world. Cell phones make it possible to check any internet page with just a click of a button without having to be on a computer. A personal account such as your email or facebook can be checked into at any point of the day. This new technology makes it very easy to keep tabs on people in personal circles of ones life and find out what they are up. The evolution of the camera has defiantly come a long way in the last ten years as well. One may just click and print or upload rather than taking the negatives in to get developed. This also has made it easy to document your everyday life or those special occasions that you want to share with all the people you know. Most would say that this is a great thing to have, as I myself have made comment to it being a great advantage to keeping in contact with friends and family, but when do we see all of these new technologies as being negative instead of positive. At what point do we as a society draw a line.

Since these internet sites and personal accounts have become so readily available, there have been some very disturbing things that have resulted of it. Now more than ever there are individuals within our communities all over the world that have been charged with various sexual offences with minors or child pornography. Another thing that all parents should defiantly be worried about is whether their children know exactly who they are "chatting" with on these personal sites. There are not many youths growing up today that don't know how to fluently use the internet or the computer. Many have received cameras and computers for Christmas or birthdays. Pictures of any kind can be uploaded into the vast space of the internet within seconds and have the potential of never being taken off again. Most youths wouldn't think of the negative effects of the things that they are doing on the internet which can have on their lives in the future. For example, a young girl might be at a party one night and had too much to drink. She might then, while being under the influence, decide to do some things that she normally wouldn't do. Another person there has a camera and before you wake up the next day those pictures are all over cyber-space. These will never go away. That being said, adults really need to inform and educate their children on the potential harm that they could be putting themselves in without even knowing it.

When Facebook first was created, it was mainly used by the college and university networks for student and teachers to stay in contact with campus issues and activities. Since then it has become very popular and used by a wide variety of people and companies. Every move that you make during a day can be documented if you so choose. Sometimes people fail to realize the power of the system that they are using. What has been occurring without realizing is canceling or rescheduling something and lying about it only to be caught by your own status updates or picture uploads. Why do people feel that now because of this ever growing social population over the web pages that they will or cannot be tracked down. This triggers questions of where societies social skills are heading.

Ten years ago one would see children of all ages playing with friends and frequently visiting parks and community centers. Today these technological advancements place the center of focus on spending time in front of a television playing video games or on the computer checking web sites or chatting with friends. This results in a severe lack of social skills that is impacting everyday life. Having a brief conversation with someone on the bus or in line at the supermarket doesn't happen much . Holding a professional work space in an office or company is becoming difficult because people are finding it hard to know how to deal with one another. Seeing all of these situations arise simply because of not needing to interact with individuals because technology has been impacting our society in a negative fashion.

If more attention was paid to these negative things that are occurring online, society as whole would benefit. There will always be someone trying to make things faster and easier to be able to get more things done in one day. Reminding your family and friends that as much as technology can be an advantage to everyday life it can also be very dangerous. Make sure that you think about things that you do while online. People you talk to, sites you visit, information you give out, and pictures you or others upload. As much as all of these things can seem so innocent while doing them, they can come back to haunt you later.
In your home make boundaries and rules that need to be followed so one at a time we can keep this technological tools that were created to be used positively. For this, I am sure, is what they were intended for.


Ainsley