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Social Media and Online Predators

In: Social Issues

Submitted By taytay56
Words 478
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Social Media and Online Predators Although there are many benefits of using social media, there are also many dangers. One of those dangers is the vast number of sexual predators that lurk in the midst of the cyber-world. The internet is not such a friendly environment when it comes to online sexual predators. As more and more individuals gain access to social media networking sites, the easier it becomes for online predators to victimize them. According to Richard M. Guo, “an online sexual predator is someone who uses the internet to sexually exploit vulnerable individuals, typically under-aged youths” (“Stranger Danger and the Online Social Network”). Online predators use many ways to lurk in young individuals. One of those ways are by impersonating someone. For example, the predator would pose as a younger teenager to appeal to other young teenagers. Then they would follow up by striking up conversations with those young teenagers in hopes of building up a certain trust level which would lead to easy access for the predator to attack the young teen. Having access to victimize the individual can lead to many outcomes. Those outcomes includes date rape, kidnapping, and sex trafficking. The way the predator would go about committing one of those outcomes is by asking the teen to meet up somewhere as a friendly invite. In the end their intention would be to harm the teen. The predator can also the threaten or blackmail the teen into doing what they say to do. Predators use a variety or tricks to get what they want from young teenagers. When it comes to social media, there are plenty of steps one can take to assure maximum safety. Utilizing privacy settings is an efficient way to monitor who can view a profile (“Online Predators”). By making a profile private, strangers would not be able to send messages. When keeping a profile private, one should also keep in mind to not accept random friend requests. Another thing one should limit while going online is sharing personal information such as a home address or telephone number. Sharing personal information makes it simple for predators to attack the individual. Even though the internet has so much to offer, it can turn a young and naive teenager’s life into a nightmare. Sexual predators wander in the world of the internet and are often difficult to distinguish when it comes to a teenager. They have many tricks to reel in potential victims which could lead to horrific outcomes for the young teenager. Through simple procedures, one can prevent being harassed by an online predator.

Works Cited
Cooper, Roy. "Online Predators." Online Predators. North Carolina Department of Justice, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
Guo, Richard M. "Stranger Danger And The Online Social Network." Berkeley Technology Law Journal 23.(2008): 617. LexisNexis Academic: Law Reviews. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.

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