Info
 ►Staff
 ►Contact Us
 ►Feedback

Sign Our
Guestbook

Is Socializing on the Internet as Deadly as they Say?

            Oh, the Internet.  For making it possible to send any amount of information to anyone from anywhere at any time, it is probably the greatest creation of recent history.  However, some will say that talking with strangers on the internet is dangerous.  These people are right, but exactly how hazardous is the information superhighway?

            About every few months you hear about an online predator or abductee on the

news. These reports put fear into people and lead them to believe that talking to strangers over the internet will lead you to be kidnapped or killed. Seeing the numerous accounts of internet abductions, it is a certain possibility. 

            It’s wise to be cautious, but merely talking to someone via the web is not going to seal your fate, despite the beliefs of some fellow students I have talked to. If you look on some online communities, you will find that people give their full name and hometown on their personal page, yet these aren’t the people being abducted.  The poor victims of these crimes usually invite the predator over, thinking they have developed a trust.  Online safety works the same as stranger safety.  As a child you are urged not to talk to strangers, because one might mean bad news.  As you get older, you’ll probably find yourself talking to strangers often.  That is, after all, how you meet new people.  You just need to know when to stop.  Same applies to the internet. You may at one point talk to an online predator, and you can talk to him or her as long as you wish and you won’t receive any harm, as long as you don’t walk into their trap and give them too much information.  As you are reading this, thousands of teens and adults are talking on chat rooms, message boards, and blogs, yet abductions are rather rare regarding those numbers.

            It’s alright for one to talk on the Internet as long he or she knows how to defend himself or herself.  If one is truly in danger from merely speaking to acquaintances over the internet, where their personal information is nearly impossible to find (unless they posted their information on the internet or told someone), then isn’t everyone in extreme danger by simply being in the phone book, where addresses, phone numbers, and corresponding names are all exhibited for everyone to see?  So go out and enjoy the wonderful creation we call the internet.  Just lookout for yourself.

Dylan