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Predators On The Web

Predators come in all shapes, forms, and sizes. Unfortunately, they have no specific characteristics that can point out who they are and what they are capable of. It can be your normal neighbor across the street, or that cashier from the gasoline station nearby, it can even be your middle school math teacher, and the scariest part is that you wouldn’t even know it. They blend into society and often make themselves appear as someone you can trust.

Predators can be all around you and you might never know. But also keep in mind that not everyone is a predator and it takes a lot of investigating to find that out. U.S District Attorney, Mary Buchanan says, “Predators are in all professions. Unfortunately, we have seen doctors, lawyers, law enforcement and clergy. There is really no common trait. In fact, many of them are drawn to those particular professions which give them access to children.” Children are the most vulnerable to falling into the trap of a predator. According to Internet Safety 101, predators use sites that they know children will use. 

The percentage of criminal arrests related to child exploitation has stayed steady at 18% from 2019 and 2018. What tech companies did find was 45 million online content of children being sexually abused, that’s more than double than the previous year according to Internet Safety 101. 67% of the children who have survived sexual abuse have claimed that the distribution of images has had a different impact on them than the physical contact because what’s out in the web is permanent. 

If you have experienced any sort of abuse, report it. There’s people out there that are willing to help. It’s important to get that person out of doing the same to someone else, you could potentially end up helping others. Be safe and allow a trusted adult to be involved as well.

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Texting and Driving

Everyone knows about texting and driving. Maybe you’ve seen someone do it or you yourself has done it before. It is among one of the most dangerous forms of distracted driving and it’s more dangerous than you’d think. According to studies, cell phone use behind the wheel reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. High school students who reported frequent texting while driving were less likely to wear a seatbelt and more likely to drink and drive. There have been many studies done in the past and the results change over the years because texting and driving has been becoming more of a problem not just for teens, but for adults too.

Texting and driving can be deadly. It causes approximately 1.6 million car accidents every year. In the U.S, 14 percent of all fatal crashes involved the use of a cell phone. In Utah, it is against the law to text and drive and there’s a lot of consequences for it. If an individual is caught, they can face up to three months in jail and up to a 750 dollar fine. Teen drivers are four times more likely than adults to get in an accident involving a phone. Eleven teens die everyday in the U.S as a result of texting and driving. 

Texting and driving is learnt behaviour meaning that an individual develops that habit out of experience. Maybe that person has seen others doing it and doesn’t see it as a problem, and it slowly develops into their daily driving life. It’s important to practice getting out of that habit; by doing so you’re learning to put less people’s lives at risk and your own. Texting and driving doesn’t only affect you, but it affects everyone on the road as well. Drive safe and make smart choices.

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Cyberbullying

The seriousness of cyberbullying varies from age groups. A large majority of young people that have experienced bullying will never tell anyone or report it, in fear that serious action will not be taken. Those who have experienced bullying are twice as likely to bully others, according to a research that Ditch the Label found. Bullying is a ”learned” behavior, meaning that it’s not a trait that someone is born with, they adopt it according to their environment and how it’s affected them. 

There’s many ways to prevent cyberbullying from happening. One way is to remind everyone, or yourself, to treat others as they would want to be treated. You have to know the consequences of what you say and do online. Once it’s out there, there’s little, or no chance to remove it at all. If you feel targeted, be aware of how to block or report people. Online behavior affects offline behavior, it’s better to be safe than sorry. 

If you don’t know how to deal with cyberbullying, here’s a few tips. Speak to a parent or trusted adult, don’t take matters into your own hands. Always block the perpetrator and report them if the threat continues on. Collect evidence if it’s serious enough, don’t just try to avoid the problem. By reporting it, maybe you’re helping someone else who is also a target of that same person. 

As a family member or friend, there’s many key warning signs that indicate that maybe someone close to you is being bullied. If the individual isolates themselves in an unusual way, that’s one sign. One of the most important signs is if they are nervous or jumpy when they go on social media and if they get mad when they’re asked them to share their online information with someone. Self-harm usually follows if this has been going for long enough. Don’t ignore these signs, do something about it. Cyber bullying can easily be prevented if the right standards are taken into place. It’s a serious matter. 

Real or Fake?

There is a lot of questionable information on the internet. Very questionable that sometimes you wonder if it’s even real. There’s things such as online shopping websites, informational websites, brand items, news, or advertisement. They’re things that one might think are real but might not be. It’s safe and good to be aware of what you look at on the internet because you could easily be scammed or tricked into things such as viruses, or fraud and it’s hard to go back from that. 

If you are buying off an unknown website, you want to know if it’s legit. According to WikiHow, some steps that you can take are to type the websites name into a search engine and evaluate the results. Google informs you if it’s secure or not. You can also check at the top of your browser’s address bar and if it’s secure, it will have a lock on the far left. What about advertisement? If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is. If you’ve already bought the product and are concerned, know that the face of the product should match what was advertised, if it doesn’t then try returning it and report it for false advertisement.

It’s very easy to spot false information on the internet. There’s people who can take it as far to the extent as faking an important issue such as news reports. If a headline seems too extreme, consider looking more into detail and investigating it yourself. Always look at the date and look for supporting sources. Fake news is spread all the time so don’t be someone that feeds into it without knowing if it’s true or not. Before sharing anything such as a news report, consider making sure it’s real so your followers don’t fall into the same trap. Be aware of what is out there so you stay safe.

Online Privacy

Our devices are used more than just for social media, or more than for taking photos on your nice quality camera, or more than simply just communicating. We trust our devices so much that we keep confidential information in there without realizing that people could easily access our information and do a lot with it. A lot of people don’t realize it but it’s hard to keep privacy on any device when anyone can access it if they try hard enough

Privacy is very important and here’s why. “Online privacy has less to do with what you are doing, and more to do with who you are AND what you are doing. On the Internet, data has high value. It’s stolen, sold, collected and analyzed,” claims us.norton.com. People use whatever valuable information they can find and try to dig in deeper or simply spread that information. When you download an app or make an account for anything, nowadays they ask if they can collect your data and most of the time we let them because otherwise we can’t use that platform. “Data Brokers” are known as people who collect your data and sell it illegally to other businesses without your permission. It’s could to be aware of what websites you allow to see your information and to keep track of any suspicious events while using the web.

How can you take better precautions? There are many things you can do such as securing strong passwords to your accounts, backing up your data, delete data that you no longer use, use safe wifi connections, and much more. It’s very important because once hackers get access to your information, they can do much more than you’re in control of. Know how to stay safe and keep a lookout for your information.

Negative Impacts That The Internet Has In Your Life

Social media and the internet in general has many positive and negative effects on society. Some will say that the bad outweighs the good but at the end of the day that all depends on your perspective towards social media and how you use it. You need to be aware of why the negative is impactful because you can be affected.

There are many websites out there that can get you tangled in a wild mess. There are fake business websites that sell illegal stuff or simply trick you into sharing your personal information with them. They make themselves seem very real but always make sure that if you’re trying to buy something online, that it’s from a reliable source. 

Addiction to social media is a problem that is growing, especially with the growth of internet use. According to the Asian Net, It disrupts you from your personal and professional life. The internet is also used to spread misleading and false information and can specifically target that information to a specific group of people. If you see something and are curious to know if it’s real or not, search it up because not everything on the internet is true or reliable. There’s many people out there that also spread hate or threats so if you see something suspicious, contact authorities. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Even if many of these scenarios might not affect you specifically, they could affect anyone you know or it already has. Everyone wants to have a positive experience with the internet so make sure to surround your platform with people that make that achievable. The internet is fun when everyone uses it correctly. Teach others how to use the media positively and have fun as you do!

Negative Impacts The Internet Has In School

The internet provides us with many different resources to help us be successful in school and out. Along with the good, there are also negative effects that it has in school. Many of the negative effects include students trying to multitask, students being easily distracted including during exams, and students procrastinating because of the use of their electronic devices. It’s good to acknowledge these effects and now how to do better.

Multitasking is common among students in school. During essays it’s easy for them to think they can be on social media while also trying to stay focused on their assignments. According to a study done by the University of Connecticut, multitasking lowers grades and there are many students who can tell you that they agree. Even if it’s not specifically in school, there’s no doubt that it takes your main focus off what’s more important. You would also think that students would not take out their electronics during exams but that’s not the case; 10% of students have admitted to texting during an on-going test. 

Procrastination is something we’ve all done at least once. It is connected with having a bad work ethic according to the Oxford Learning website. When someone procrastinates, they don’t see much relevance on what’s important or just don’t know how to do it and they would rather leave it off until the last minute or sometimes they end up not doing it at all. It has a negative effect on schoolwork because it lowers grades and it can even have an effect on their health. There’s many ways to avoid procrastination, one being that you can break down big tasks into smaller ones. Instead of doing everything at once, space it out and do something small every day until that deadline. Any amount of progress can help you achieve your goal. It’s important to stay up to date with important dates and deadlines so practice anything that will help.

Positive Impacts The Internet Has In School

Social media use in schools has many positive impacts on students and teachers. Obtaining information and sharing it with others has also become much easier, such as creating groups and providing information for everyone to see. The internet is a source we can use to find the information we need and to learn more. It’s fast and easy to get reliable information if used correctly and it’s a lot less work.

The internet provides people the opportunity to learn and take online classes. Regardless of your location, if you have the access to it you can do it. In school when a student misses class, they often miss a lot but if your teachers provide resources online to catch up on websites such as google classroom, it’s a lot easier to access what you missed and it’s beneficial for both the student and the teacher. 

The use of the internet in school has proven to improve engagement and knowledge retention. According to Web Anywhere, “When technology is integrated into lessons, students are expected to be more interested in the subjects they are studying.” It’s true because students become more engaged and will most likely participate more and that helps improve knowledge retention as well.

The internet doesn’t only help students but it helps teachers as well in many ways. Grading is much easier and students are allowed to access their grades whenever they want. Teachers can plan out their agendas online and also plan ahead for future lessons. Of course the internet has its flaws but when used correctly, it benefits everyone and makes education and learning a lot more fun and less difficult. As long as it’s not a distraction in class, everyone can be happy and can be engaged in learning and listening. Just use it the right way!

Positive Impacts That The Internet Has In Your Life

Social media and the internet in general is an amazing thing. It allows us to communicate with others and it gives us the opportunity to show off our creativity, and our adventurous lives. It allows many groups to socialize even when they’re not together and everyone involved can join in. It does a lot for our personal lives, that’s why many people have incorporated it into their daily lives.

Social media is balanced between whether or not it helps our mental health or not. The Curatti website claims that our emotions expressed online affect our mood. They also said that it helps relieve isolation by allowing communication in easier ways. Social media also has helpful resources for anyone feeling suicidal by providing suicide prevention hotlines that are available 24/7. By spreading awareness, people know about the resources available to them without having to go to someone directly.

Social media is a platform that gives you the chance to tell the world who you are. You choose the way you portray yourself to everyone but most people choose to appear the way they are in real life. People communicate and share ideas with others and it’s also a chance for them to find common ground with strangers and to spread their interests. Social media is the new modern and it’s what everyone uses to get through their daily lives, even if that includes school, work, or home life.

You have to know how to use the internet correctly in order to keep your life positive and healthy. It all depends on you and whether you have good experiences while using it but if you know how, you can teach others around you how to have a positive experience as well. It’s all on you!

Statistics In Social Media Use

The use of social media has increased among teens. There’s many different statistics when you look at the internet as a whole, the options broaden and extend to anything such as texting and driving or how social media affects different age groups. According to a study done in 2018 by Common Sense Media, they found that 89% of teens have a smartphone and 70% are on social media multiple times a day. That percentage is growing throughout the years with the increase of social media use as technology improves.

Texting and driving is common among teens. 1 in 5 teens say check notifications while they drive while 44% say they “never” do. Statistics show that 1 out of every 4 car accidents are caused by texting and driving and that the use of a phone while driving causes nearly 1.6 million crashes each year. A good way to prevent the use of your cell phone while driving is to turn it off or put it on silent and away from you so it’s not a temptation to be distracted. 

Teens with low social self esteem experience more of the negative effects of social media rather than the kids with higher social self esteem. According to Common Sense Media, teens today also don’t value face-to-face communication with friends as much as they used to. 54% of teens said that if their parents knew what they actually did on social media, they’d be worried. It’s safe to have your parents involved and aware with what you do.

Instagram and Snapchat are the two most popular social sites for Gen Z and Millenials. The Business Insider claims that Gen Z is the first generation to grow up with the internet as part of their childhood. The statistics will continue to change over time as technology changes and improves so it’s exciting to see what the future has in store for us.

Online Gaming

Kids today don’t need to go to an arcade and pay to use a game every time they want to be entertained. The internet has allowed online gaming to become a thing and it’s one of the many things that show our improvement in technology especially because you get to compare from then and now. Online gaming has been becoming more and more popular as there has been an increase in new games for a variety of age groups, not just kids. It’s fun, and it allows you to interact with people from across the world. Along with that, comes many concerns and dangers, even if you don’t think so. It’s good to be aware and safe, even when you play online games.

There’s many concerns that side online gaming. Kids are most vulnerable to overseeing such dangers and there have been predators that lure in kids information and it escalates from there. In Minnesota, there was an eight year old boy who was pressured into sending pictures of his mom’s personal information to other players on Fortnite in exchange for ‘V-Bucks’. The mom wants to warn kids and their parents to “watch what your kids are doing and limit their screen time because it’s not healthy for them.” Things like this are unpredictable but they do happen.

Online gaming doesn’t just consist of online predators but it also consists of viruses that can affect your devices. ‘Cheats’ can contain viruses, even if they seem like a good idea. Other online dangerous can include your username and gamertags. Make sure to use names that don’t reveal much of your personal information. Always use strong passwords and don’t reveal your personal information to other players. 

The internet is fun and there’s much you can do but it’s good to be aware, even while you’re gaming. Have fun while playing, but also play safe and keep in mind that there are people out there that don’t use the web for good reasons. Don’t fall into a trap, but also have fun.

Be Yourself

Social media influences our daily lives in many ways. It has negative and positive sides but it’s important to be aware of the ways you put yourself out there and how it can affect you. When you let social media control your life, it can be like bearing weight on your shoulders and it can take a toll on your mentality and physical appearance. There’s many reasons why you should control the amount of time spent on social media and why you should be as transparent as can be to the world.

There’s a quote by Oscar Wilde that says, “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.” It’s important to take it into consideration because no one compares to you,  and you can’t compare to others. If someone on Instagram has more likes and followers than you, that doesn’t determine their value or yours. Many people aren’t who they claim to be and they live a fantasy on social media. It’s hard to be yourself when you feel like everyone is judging and looking at you, but it’s important to try because it’s worse to live a lie when the only person you should be pleasing is yourself. Show the world who you really are, not who they want to see.

Controlling the time you spend on social media allows you to spend more time with the outside world instead of letting a screen control your life. It also gives you more time to focus on yourself and it allows you to spend more time doing what you love with the people you love. Learning to balance social media and your personal life can be a challenge but it’s a skill you won’t regret learning.

Transparency is key to being yourself. People can see who you really are and they gain your trust by seeing that your not faking the lifestyle you claim to have. At the end of the day, if people don’t like who you are, that’s on them, not on you. You owe yourself peace and happiness and if there’s people who disturb that, you don’t need them. Be yourself.

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