My Opinions on the Safe Blogging Videos

I found these videos to be a good source of info and each contained good advice or messages, but here is a summary of several of them and my opinions of them...

Video 1: Think Before You Post

This video shows a high school girl who posts a slightly inappropriate picture of herself on a public bulletin board. The picture is then seen, taken, and spread throughout her school, and when she wants to get rid of the picture, upset about what has happened, it is impossible.

I thought this video was a very good representation of posting pictures, especially of yourself, on the Internet or blogs. It also, though, showed the fact that anybody at all can easily see the pictures once posted, and it is sometimes difficult or impossible to take them back or delete the images. In this case, people our age could more easily relate because it showed the picture of a high school girl being seen and getting shown to all of her friends and eventually everyone in the school, including those she didn't know. This helps us directly because it is a very good lesson not to display embarrassing or inappropriate pictures on the Internet. Our family, friends, and others who we don't even know can see them.

Video 2: Ad Council and National Crime Prevention Council Launch (Cyberbullying Video)

In this video, a girl named Lindsay announces to an audience several very rude statements about a girl named Patty, including that she's stupid, ugly, dirty, greasy, wears a nasty pink sweater, and is hated by everyone, and Patty is very offended and extremely humiliated.

In my opinion, this was a perfect example of how easily somebody can be cyberbullied. The thing is, in this video, it shows that the bullying is not just directed from one person to another. Because it is posted online or on a blog, it is similar to "Think Before you Post". Everyone in a community or in any place, for that matter, can see these offenses, and hence, the victim is even more embarrassed and hurt. It is just like the video says, if you wouldn't tell information to somebody directly, definitely don't post it online where they and others can see it, as it is just as hurtful over the Internet.

Video 4: Online Sexual Exploitation PSA- Exchange

In this video, it shows how a young girl got into a fake relationship with an older man through an online chat room. All the while, however, the man was a sexual predator and just wanted to meet the girl in person so that it "would get interesting".

I thought that this really sent a good message that chat rooms can be and sometimes are dangerous. In this case and in cases all over the country, kids talk to others online who turn out to be older and usually sexual predators, who are just looking to abuse them. I believe the main idea here is that you should always know who you are talking to and stay away from people you don't know well in online chat rooms. Interactions like these can have very bad consequences for the victim. People should be extremely careful in a chat room, or should avoid them altogether if the danger is too great.

Globalization

With new advances in technology, the world seems to be getting smaller and smaller. New inventions such as jet planes, the internet, cell phones, and more continue to make the world more accessible to the average person. For example, athletes in competitions such as the U.S. Open can easily come together in a single location on the globe without much trouble.