Is Social Networking dangerous?

It seems like whoever has a web cam, had visited the Chatroulette, one of the social networking tools available in the world. Chatroulette was launched in 2009 whereby users are able to video chat with people around the world. This allows access and interaction between people all over the world. Although users may "see" the other party through web cam, it is still a virtual platform. Users do not physically interact with the other party, but the question is, is it safe?
The following is a response from a Chatroulette user.


Apparently, this female user was surfing Chatroulette alone, and chatted with a male user who showed his private part through the web cam. According to Singapore's law, he committed "Insulting of a Women modesty", however, he is from a different country. Will he get punish for his actions? I doubt so. Maybe to some people, they might simply feel disgusted but what if because of these perversity acts, others undergo trauma and developed depression? Who will then be the one who pays the price? Definitely, not that guy.

In reality, we are able to physically interact with people, however for the virtual world, sometimes, whatever we disclose may not be as genuine as it seemed. Take the following clip for example,



A group of guys used a video image of Jessica Alba to trick guys act stupidly in front of the web cam. This is considered to be "Gender Bending" in the virtual world. Male users are pretending to be female users for certain motives. As for the previous example, their motives are purely trying to play a prank on others. To pretend to be another gender is considered lying, and who knows what ulterior motives the person might have.

One of the reasons why people don't reveal whoever they really are on the virtual world, is they are trying to find "Self acceptance online". It is because social networking enables those who have not been able to find acceptance due to their physical characteristics in real life to be themselves online. For some people, they might not interact with people in real life as well as the virtual world. Often, they find themselves much comfortable to chat by "fingers" and not "mouth". They don't feel nervous or stress as they don't meet the other party. Well, in this case, it will be alright if this individual just wanting to befriend people online.

However, what if a user portrayed himself as someone who is totally not him? Just imagine, an ugly guy using a video image of a very good looking guy and started chatting with girls. He might then use sweet talking techniques which he probably Google-ed online to allow the girl to believe he is some kind of Casanova. We can now see the "dangers" within the social networking itself.

Although the Chatroulette serves as a convenient medium for people to chat much freely, it might also be dangerous for users. Well, to support my point of view, the name Chatroulette was originated from Russian Roulette, and we all know Russian Roulette is a crazy and dangerous game.

Importance of Internet

Today, we are living in a world whereby internet plays a pivotal role in our lives. With the help of new technologies, we are seeing people having the luxury to access internet anywhere, any time. People no longer need to travel across the world just to say “Hi, how are you?” And no longer need to wait for days beside your mailbox. However, does our younger generation truly understand how fortunate they are to be living in an era where internet and technology are well developed? I must say, I might be fortunate enough to witness an era when internet and technology were not as developed as today.
If I were to write this post twenty years ago, it probably will be this,

Twenty years ago, I probably would take about two hours to write one entry, but today, I might just spend forty-five minutes to type the same entry now. Not only the writing of dairy, internet aids us in more ways then we expected.
When I was in my primary school days and needed to find a friend to play games, what I did was to take a bus which its journey lasted for fifty minutes to his house and then played our game consoles. I then need to take that same bus trip home and by the end of the day, Ill be exhausted. What about kids today? I seldom see them travelling that far just to play games on a game console. Why would someone travel so much when they can switch on their ultra fast computers at home, connect to internet and start playing online games with friends? Nowadays, kids wouldn’t be finding their friends to play marbles like the older generation anymore, as they are now into online gaming.

The accessibility to internet gives users much convenience these days and this is another reason why internet is pivotal.
Speaking of convenience, during my primary school days, whenever there’s project work, we will definitely be meeting in the library to discuss our project. It was mainly due the face that libraries were the only option for us to search our materials. We then spend hours looking for materials before even starting on our project. What about today? We just type “www.google.com “and insert keywords and we might just be able to search for our materials in a matter of seconds.

In addition, back then, lets say even if we were not required to search for materials, we will still be meeting at the library for discussion. Why? Simply because there were no “MSN”, “Facebook”, “Skype” or any other chatting tools. Unlike today, we simply have “online meetings” and we save all the travelling time and this is definitely another important advantage on having internet today.
Lastly, with the aid of internet and the creation on “Email”, it gives us so much convenience, especially in an organization. Imagine, if the head of an organization wants to deliver a message to his one thousand workers, and if there is no internet, is he really going to manually write one thousand letters?
Thus, with the help of internet, messages can be delivered anywhere, anytime which plays a pivotal role in our growth in efficiency.