Growing Up Online

I found "Growing Up Online" to be really interesting. Middle school and high school are eras of change for every adolescent, and as the Internet grows to be more and more a part of each aspect of everyday life, it is interesting to see how it effects everyone individually. The two stories that had the biggest impact on me were the young girl with the eating disorder and the young boy that committed suicide. I had done a research paper last year on eating disorders and found several websites that were 'pro-ana'. It was tough to look at them and see how so many people truly felt that an anorexic way of life was not only good, but the right thing to do. The internet provides so much information, but sometimes it's not always a positive thing to have so much information so readily available to anyone. Directions on how to not eat, how to build bombs, how to commit suicide, all of this information is out there and waiting to be read and often read by the wrong people. I think it would be interesting to see how much influence the Internet has over people's actions.

As the documentary stated, the Internet has allowed for communication to occur 24/7. It's tough for students today, because not only do you have to keep up and communicate with everyone at school, but it now infiltrates into the home as well. You can't leave school and leave behind the teasing or the bullying, because now it follows you home. When you constantly hear things, it's easy to start believing them. It's unfortunate that so many teens have taken drastic actions as a result of internet bullying.

I find it interesting how social networking sites are supposed to be all about an easy way to express yourself on the Internet, but it appears that it has just created another norm that teenagers have come to conform to. Having the most friends, the prettiest pictures, the coolest quotes, the most wall posts have become the newest fads. No longer do you only need the newest shoes, or the coolest jeans, but you also need to have the hippest social network page. And not only do you have to appear cool, but these sites look into your information to decide what type of advertisements to show you. Interested in dance? I can guarantee you'll have ads for dance studios or dance attire companies on your page. And I bet they're in your area too.

I feel as though I'm in between the current adolescents growing up in the Internet age, and the parents of these teens. I can see why they don't understand it because they grew up in a very different time. It's also funny for me to think about trying to fit in on the Internet as so many teenagers must feel today. I couldn't jelp but laugh when the three young teenage girls were describing Internet friends and how you may have 400 friends, but you only actually know 200 of them and you're actually only best friends with 20. I think it would be very time consuming have 20 best friends. So in that respect I can see why parents don't fully understand what it is about the Internet that causes teens to spend so much time on it every day.

On the other hand, it's part of everyday life these days, and parents like Evan have to chill out. She was an extremist and it was obvious she feared the Internet was the demise of all young people, but I can tell she was extreme about parenting in general. However, the Internet is something that is used on a daily basis, often in lieu of other forms of media or even other forms on information. As one of the teachers said, we can't fight the internet, we just have to figure out how to continue within the its presence.