There are many benefits to social networking, but just as many troubles. One of the major issues with online friendship is trust. How can we have complete confidence in someone we have never met? How do we know that our “friends” are really who they say they are?
Honesty becomes an issue when we recreate our personas to make ourselves seem more desirable. I am sure that we could all come up with a time when we have been guilty of this. It may be as innocent as losing five pounds when we log on, or as deceitful as pretending to be someone else entirely. Either way, the lies affect our self worth or others.
In a music video, country singer Brad Paisley jests about online personalities and how easy it is to represent an untrue version of ourselves. You can view So Much Cooler Online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE6iAjEv9dQ
Not all stories are as light-hearted as Paisley’s video. The tragic suicide of Megan Meier at age fourteen, was due to cyber bullying and fraudulent representation. Megan believed she had met the boy of her dreams, Josh, on MySpace and had been exchanging online messages with him for weeks. The messages from Josh soon turned malicious and urged Megan to kill herself. It was later discovered that Josh was created by Lori Drews, the mother of a girl that Megan went to school with. More details on this heartbreaking story can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Megan_Meier
So, how do you know whether or not an online friend is being truthful about who they are? You can never really be 100% sure. Therefore, it is always best to be cautious when participating in online relationships. StaySafeOnline.org posts some great advice regarding safe social networking.
Are you who you claim to be online?
If you have any comments or stories you would like to share, please feel free to do so!
By: Melanie
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Mel, it is very difficult to trust friends met online. It is true trust is one of the major issues with online friendship. I believe we should be careful about the personal information we put online. The fact is the more detailed information you put online about yourself,the greater it gives strangers the chances to come into your life.This link gives some advice on trust and friendship issues http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI3AoFoxGY0
ReplyDeleteMel this is a good question how do you know if the person says he is who he says it is because when it comes to it just texting or emailing just does not cut it. Even when a picture is posted it does not mean it is the person’s photo. This is why in my previous blog I stated that I like the idea of ‘cam chatting’ because you can identify who you are talking to and be able to at least trust the fact that you physically know who you are talking to. If Megan had the opportunity to see who was chatting with her maybe she might have been alive today. So I say when in doubt about who you are chatting with play it safe and use a cam to chat see this website for more details http://e-datecentral.com/onlinedatingblog/how-to-webcam-chat-on-the-internet-and-keep-safe/
ReplyDeleteby Collette
I agree that "cam chatting" has advantages to those who want "keep it safe". This would have been life-saving for Megan Meier. Would she have taken advantage?
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many chatters prefer the idea of mystery and possible danger of online relationships.