When I first went online I was very young. We always had computers in my school since kindergarten but we did not always have the Internet. When I first began going online I used the Internet for homework and assignments. We also had computer classes in elementary school that taught us how to use computers and the Internet. When I was younger I disliked how slow the Internet was, especially when a lot of people were on my school server. It would take forever for the pages to load and to download things.
Learning how to use the Internet at such an early age definitely helps because the earlier you learn how to use something the easier it is to comprehend and maintain how to use it. Learning so young has made it easier for my generation to use it for our needs. Previous generations before us did not have the Internet so they used libraries and books for all of their research. Although we do still use books as resources, the Internet is definitely our go-to resource for almost all things. Now most people have the Internet on their phones and laptops. It makes it a lot easier to gain knowledge when needing it. It also allows everyone to retrieve the knowledge much faster.
In terms of Growing Up Online, I found it very interesting that the Internet shifted from being in control by adults to being taken over by the generations underneath them. Young adults, teenagers and children are now in control of the Internet. They make up the largest percentage of usage. The documentary says that they encounter so much media the advertising and media studies work they live in. As a result of this, older generations feel like these generations must be taught through different media outlets. One person in the documentary says, “kids walking into a classroom without media makes them feel like they’re walking into a desert”. I totally agree with that and think the same way.
The documentary reminded me of my own friends when they spoke about kids no longer reading books and instead they read online summaries and spark notes. That reminded me of my own friends because that is what we always did throughout grade school, especially middle school. Also reminding me of my own friends is when they were talking about how kids use social media to let out anger and problems. Cyber bullying definitely took place in middle school in my school. People used to write on MySpace, their blogs and fight over instant messenger. It made me remember about middle school though when they spoke about people never actually would talk about these problems in person.
The most disturbing thing within the documentary is when they discussed the people leading different lives online. It is very disturbing that you could think your seeing someone online and not even notice him or her in person because they look completely different. A perfect example of this is the girl in the documentary that was known as the ‘gothic princess’ online. I do not even know what could be done in order to make that aspect of the online experience less disturbing because it really was the girl, she just made herself appear to look completely different and almost unrecognizable. That, itself, is also very disturbing.
Growing Up Online needs to be changed since the online experience has changed. I think since this documentary has been released a lot has been done about cyber bullying and Internet sex crimes. That being said, I believe that they should now focus more on the online advertisements that leech themselves to social networking pages. Although a lot of times it can be very harmless and informative, I believe that some times it can be more personal and almost seems like your computer and the advertisements are stalking your online experience.
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