Good morning, everyone. I’m Chris Wong, Chairman of the Current Affairs Club.
Social networking sites such as Facebook seem to have permeated our daily life. More and more people are setting up accounts so as to socialize with friends and associate with others. However, the problem of misusing these friendship sites has become serious and alarming. Therefore, today I’ll talk about the examples of misuse of social networking sites and the dangers they pose for teenagers, as well as the right attitudes to social networking online.
Examples of misusing social networking sites include cyberbullying, compensated dating and mass suicide. Bullying is not only popular in schools, but also common on the Internet. In order to take revenge, some teenagers may verbally bully others through friendship sites. For instance, some girls will gossip about and trample their female schoolmates who are adored by the boys they like through the sites. Another familiar example of misusing social networking sites is known as compensated dating. Wanting to buy brand names or enjoy a material life, more teenage girls earn money by having sexual transactions with others. These compensated-dating girls usually advertise and post their personal information on social networking sites to attract customers. Besides, the recent hot topic about mass suicide is another example of misusing social networking sites. A teenager started a mass-suicide group ‘I have to practice suicide’ with nearly 190 members to kill themselves on December 21 on Facebook just for fun. Although the old group was removed, a similar online group emerged right after.
When teens are misusing social networking sites, dangers arise at the same time. Since the Internet is a virtual world, there can be a potential pitfall for the compensated-dating girls to go out with strangers if the customers are perverted. There was even a case in which a man killed and dismembered a 16-year-old girl after they had sex. Similarly, the mass suicide on social networking sites sparks off a crisis. The spreading of negative and wrong messages on social networking sites may mislead those fragile teenagers to commit suicide and thus risk their life.
We should have the right attitudes to social networking online. First of all, we should be responsible. When we’re using friendship sites, we should think of the impact on others. It’s also important to be alert and not to easily disclose or reveal our personal details in the cyber world. Finally, we should have our own critical thinking and judgement when we meet or network with others we don’t know.
Social networking sites should be the platforms for sharing, but not the media for cyberbullying, compensated dating as well as mass suicide. From now on, let’s have the right attitudes and make better use of the social networking sites. Thank you.