"Growing up Online" Video

Part One:
“Internet has created the biggest generation gap since rock and roll”, says a teacher in the video “Growing up Online”. This video was created by Rachel Dretzin and John Maggio, to educate people about the internet and the lack of privacy it offers. In their video a parent mentions that “If it’s on the net, it’s for everyone. There is no safeguard.” She means that everything you post is open to the public and even to the people that have no business knowing your personal information. One student looks at it as a way of “socializing and learning about life”, while another says, “the internet is like a currency, if you don’t use it, you’re at a loss.” Young people obviously have different views than adults but the overall idea is that it’s not safe, and you have no idea who is on another computer accessing your information. The video talks strongly about Facebook and MySpace and its privacy issues. Many people post their addresses, phone numbers, ages, and other personal information on both of these sites and make it so easy for people to enter their lives. “There are over 160 million viewers combined on facebook and MySpace”, one person says. That’s an insane amount of people accessing just these two sites alone, and unfortunately, not all of them are doing it to “make new friends”. A student named Jessica said, “I never fit the mould, but online I could be whoever I wanted, even a model named Autumn Edows”. She created a MySpace page that led people to believe that this normal, fourteen year old girl was actually an eighteen year old supermodel. It’s a scary thought that, although they’re only focusing on these two sites, there are plenty of sites that anybody can learn about you in a matter of minutes. In this video, they try to show you how important it is to be safe online and to know the boundaries.

Part Two:
If I was doing a story on how the internet has made an impact on my life, I would write about MySpace. It’s a site I’ve used since my freshman year in high school, and I’ve always looked at it is a way of communicating and keeping in touch with friends and family. I’ve always been cautious though, due to all of the lectures from my parents about how anyone that has access to the internet has access to my information. So although I’ve always used it, I’ve never posted where I live, my phone number, or any of my personal information. Internet has definitely affected my life because it’s something that my generation really grew up with. It’s something that kids my age have had the privilege to use and learn from unlike many generations before ours. For example, my parents grew up in the fifties, and although they think they know more than me in many aspects of life, I’ll always know more than them when it comes to the internet, because I’ve been exposed to it more, in and out of school. They don’t understand how to surf websites, download programs, or even check their own email because it wasn’t part of their era and it’s nothing they really care to learn about. Whereas I’ve been surfing the internet, downloading music, and emailing since the fifth grade. So I would say the internet has definitely impacted my life; and as nice as it is to have, I’ll admit that it’s at times scary to think about how many people have access to the same sites as me.