By: Jason Czech
In the world today, the technology
is taking over. Whether it be how business is run or how people communicate, it
is clear that right now the world is in an age of technology. With all the new
technology comes many new benefits and flaws. One of the controversial topics
involving the internet are student blogs. For years students have been able to
post what was on their mind and write about their feelings, but recently cops,
administrators, and principals have been cracking down on what students are
blogging about.
Many high schools and college levels
have what is called a "confessions" page. This is a place where
students can go and discuss anything they would like and express their feelings
toward their topic of choice. Many students use such websites as Facebook to
access these pages, which makes them so easily available. In some ways these
sites are helpful for students who need a way to express their feelings, but
recently there have been a significant amount of posts noticed that are rude
and explicit towards certain individuals and groups of people. This then
becomes a problem that is being watched closely now days.
Everyone knows that the first
amendment in the Bill of Rights gives everyone the right of free speech, press,
and religion, but with the internet and blogs, the American government has been
forced to control the freedom of speech people have. An example of this was in
Kalispell, Montana, where students made some comments on a confession website and
were threatened by police to take down the comments or they could be charged
with defamation. The cop then commented about the posts saying, " There
was a lot of sexually explicit content directed at specific individuals and a
lot of hateful language being used. Kids are more willing to be crude when they
don't have to face anyone. They hide behind the computer."
Knowing that police have the power
to take action on these explicit comments, people, students especially, should
be careful with what they say on the internet, because it could get someone in
trouble these days.
Another example of officials taking
action over postings on the internet was in Georgia. A student posted a status
on Facebook saying that there would be a big surprise the next day at school.
One mother saw this and called the police. The police then came to the students
house to talk to him about it and eventually figured out he was planning on
dressing up like Santa Clause as he had the past few years. After asking
questions and finding no threats, the police left without doing anything to the
student. This wasn't the end of it though, the principle of the school then
suspended the kid from school the next few for the postings.
It is reports like these that make
you ask the question, where is the line? Yes, students and users of the
internet should think about what they are posting before they post it, but
clearly Americans don't have the freedom of speech anymore that the
constitution claims they do have.
How much do we use social media
these days? Look at some of these interesting facts to see how social media
impacts the world today.
Resources:
Jason,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your response. We are in a technology age where everybody hides behind their computer. I personally don’t think that officials should take down “confession” pages because we have a freedom of speech. Although, I believe that people should act maturely on the pages and not make crude remarks that could start issues, but we all know that won’t happen unfortunately. Over the internet I think people overanalyze comments, just like your example about the “special surprise.” One clear solution is, I think, is that technology should slow down. Just think what people did in the old days, they confronted their issues face-to-face. We had better social communication and nobody was behind their computer hiding. Thanks for your post.
-Molly Wetzel