The Cyber Social World

of Today’s Youth

Purple People Eaters

(Becky Groth & Melissa Noël )
 In the Beginning
 The internet first came into existence in 1969.
The internet was developed as part of a project
by the United States Department of Defense as
a means to communicate that would survive a
nuclear war (Cooper & Mathy, 2003).
 Today
 Chat rooms
 Instant messaging
 Email
 Information acquisition
 Real time gaming
 Social networking sites like
FaceBook or MySpace
 Dating
 Pornography
Social networking, instant messenger,
chat rooms, and internet predators
 Teens are being intercepted by pedophiles
 The number of men who engage children and
adolescents on the internet is statistically on the
rise
 Individuals are able to explore a darker side to
their sexuality in anonymity that might include
child pornography or violent images of sex that
they would have never initially pursued in real life
 The cyber world is an enabler and it creates an
ideal breeding ground for sexual predators
 (Young, 2005).
 Social networking, instant messenger,
chat rooms, and internet predators cont...
 Alicia Kozakiewicz, from
Pittsburgh, 13 years old
 Thought she was talking to a
very pretty, red headed girl
about her age. Except that the
friend was really a pedophile
and he later kidnapped, raped
and tortured the thirteen year
old girl for four days (Jaffe,
2007).
 Justin Berry, 13 years old
 He was lured into a pedophiles
sex ring where he was abused
and molested (Eichenwald,
2005)
 Social networking, instant messenger,
chat rooms, and closeness of
friendships
 Reduction hypothesis is based on four assumptions:
 a) The internet motivates adolescents to form more
superficial relationships online with strangers
 b) Online friendships with strangers are less beneficial for
adolescents than existing offline friendships
 C) The time spent online with strangers occurs at the
expense of time with offline friends
 d) As a result of the three proceeding assumptions, the
closeness of existing friendships are reduced
 (Locke, 1998).
Social networking, instant messenger,
chat rooms, and closeness of
friendships
 The Stimulation Theory
 a) The internets reduced cues encourages
adolescents to disclose their inner feelings more
easily than in real-life interactions
 b) Intimate self disclosure is an important
predictor in reciprocal liking, caring, and trust
(Collins & Miller, 1994)
 c) As a result of these assumptions, internet
enhanced intimate self disclosure stimulates the
closeness of adolescents’ offline existing
relationships (McKenna & Bargh, 2000).
 Social networking, instant messenger,
chat rooms, and closeness of
friendships
 Little support for the reduction hypothesis
 Early internet effects studies reported reductive effects
 There were not as many participants involved in the
internet
 Little crossover between offline friends and online friends
 Use of internet in United States Households have increased
exponentially
 Therefore, when adolescents spend time online they can
simultaneously foster online relationships as well as their
real-life relationships with online contact (Valkenburg &
Jochen, 2007)
 The results of a recent study of internet and computer
game use by adolescents suggested that online interactions
may now be an important context for interactions with
friends (Willoughby, 2008).
 Online Gaming…
 Online gaming is a way for teenagers and adolescents to
portray roles and participate in fantasy. Unfortunately,
these games can be highly addictive and can discourage
prosocial interaction.
 Wizards of War Craft – Runescape- XBOX 360-
Playstation-Nintendo Wii
 Runescape Promotes: Rudeness, Cheating, Gambling,
Player killing, Luring others to the wilderness by trickery
to kill them and take their items, Killing unicorns to raise
your level by obtaining their game valuable unicorn horn.
(www.truthscape.com)
 Online Gaming Cont…
 The Story of a Real RuneScape Addict
 Cyber Bullying
 Megan Meier. Megan was
thirteen years old. She had begun
talking to who she thought was a
boy her age on the internet
named Josh. Megan disclosed
many private things to Josh
 Megan received an unsettling
message that started a tragic
chain of events
 I don't know if I want to be
friends with you any longer
because I hear you're not nice to
your friends.
 "Megan Meier is a slut. Megan
Meier is fat,"
 “The world would be a better
place without you”
 Megan had hanged herself and http://www.jeffreyjohnston.org/megan-pledge.htm
died a day later (Good Morning
America, 2009).
 Sadly, Megan isn’t the only
victim
 The Readings Wanda's Song- The true victims of C
yber Bullying
 How Do I Know My Child Has a
Problem?
 Internet Addiction Criteria:
 Preoccupation with the
Internet
 Need for longer amounts of
time online to achieve
satisfaction
 Repeated unsuccessful efforts
to control, cut back, or stop
internet use
 Restlessness, moodiness,
depression, or irritability
when attempting to cut down
or stop internet use
How Do I Know My Child Has a
Problem?
 Internet Addiction Criteria
(Continued):
 Staying online longer than
originally intended
 Jeopardizing or risking the loss of
a significant relationship, job, or
educational or career opportunity
because of the Internet
 Lying to family members,
therapists, or others to conceal the
extent of involvement with the
Internet
 Using the Internet as a way of
escaping from problems or of
relieving a dysphoric mood
 Internet Addiction Test (IAT)
http://www.netaddiction.com/resources/internet_addiction_test.htm
 IAT Scale comprises 20 items which assess the
severity of negative consequences due to excessive
Internet use.
 Factor 1: Withdrawal and Social Problem
 Factor 2: Time Management and Performance
 Factor 3: Reality Substitute
 What Can I Do as a Parent?
 Talk to Your Adolescent
 Monitor Your Computer
 Talk to Your Adolescent!
(Dombroski et al., 2006)
 Recognizing and Discussing Internet Dangers: Dangers of giving out
personal information, and meeting people they have met online.
 Supervising Internet Friends: Discuss each online friend in a manner
that respects the privacy of the youth while safeguarding him or her from
inappropriate communication.
 Understanding and Approving Children’s Screen Names:
Caregivers should ensure that their adolescent is using screen names devoid
of sexual innuendo.
 Talk to Your Adolescent!
(Dombroski et al., 2006)

 Establishing a Parent-Child Contract: Contract to

help structure interest use and guidelines.
 Placing the Computer in a Public Location
 Contacting the Cyber Tip Line: If suspicion of online
sexual solicitation of youth, call the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) 1 (800) 843-
5678.
 How to Monitor Your Computer…
(Dombroski et al., 2006)

 Installation of a firewall: A
software or hardware firewall
provides a barrier between a
computer and the Internet that
prevents third parties from
controlling the computer.
 Installation of antivirus or
anti-Trojan software
 Installation of a key logger:
Efficient means of reviewing the
type of communication patterns
children are having on a
computer.
 How to Monitor Your Computer…
(Dombroski et al., 2006)
 Monitoring the Browser History
 Encryption: The use of encryption techniques will hide text
from predators who are using an Ethernet sniffer to spy on a
child’s Internet-based communication.
 Privacy Filtration: Personal information may be blocked from
transmission over the Internet (Netscape Nanny 5.0)
How to Monitor Your Computer…
(Dombroski et al., 2006)

 Application Tracking and Usage: Can monitor the

amount of time spent using particular computer programs
or applications.
 Chat Logging: Chat logger records and saves on the
hard drive the plain text online conversations.