WEBNAPPED: SAVING TEENS FROM CYBER-SLAVERY

 

In a generation where the internet, smartphones and computers are cheap and easily accessible, the web has become the newest and largest system for self-ostracism in today’s world. A potent internet-driven force has emerged in the form of a network of virtual relationships collectively called the social media.

Teenagers of today are so hooked to the social media that, it has become an addictive “drug” requiring a special form of rehabilitation to treat. Talk of teenage suicide, teenage motor accidents, bullying and other untoward teenage behavior and social media will pop up soon enough. Less than a year ago, there were series of teenage suicides in reaction to cyberbullying on popular social network sites some of which were suspected to be copycat suicides adopted from the internet. We also hear of countless motor accidents involving teens who text and drive. The young generation is not being socialized properly because the social relations and face to face interactions that make community life possible have been almost totally replaced by virtual relations.

            Teenagers today have traded their real life social relations for hundreds and thousands of virtual friends and followers many of whom they know nothing about, never met and may never even meet. They confide in virtual friends rather than their families and real life friends and live their life seeking the approval and thumbs up of their online buddies. Popular online trends like #YOLO and #idgf have got many children (and some adults) living life on the edge in a bid to gain “virtual popularity”  in the form of more friends/followers, comments, likes, retweets, favorites and revines. Trends like #teamnosleep and #hitsblunt have got teens depriving themselves of useful rest while idolizing drug use.  Sadly, the real life social relations that can help rescue our children from the bondage of social media has itself been weakened by the overly individualistic society that America has become. The network of social checks that make a good society have been downsized by the notions of personal freedom, ownership and choice. Parents have lost some of their power to guide their children because children now feel responsible for themselves and feel free to abuse their liberties by experimenting with drugs, sex and alcohol. Underage children in colleges indulge in alcohol, drink and drive, experiment with drugs and even commit sex offenses and yet administrators are unable to fully check these sometimes due to “misunderstood” notions of privacy and freedom.

            With the rise in suicides attributed to cyber-bullying and the worrying trend of copycat suicides, it is very important that the problem of “social media corruption” be tackled immediately so save children from the moral corruption, exploitation and irresponsibility associated with the social media. I am not calling for the censoring of the internet (I dare not), instead, I am calling for parents and guardians to educate children and alert them to some negative effects of the social media- like cyber bullying- that children may be unaware of or be likely to overlook. Let us all help make the social media a tool of social interaction and not a tool of media capture. Kindly share your thoughts on the subject.