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.