Who Are You Online?

Author: Mary T McCarthy

Date: July 14, 2014

Link: https://www.digitalethics.org/essays/who-are-you-online

First Impressions: The essay probably discusses the differences of the social media user online and offline.

Quote: “Parents hold the keys to the Internet for their children.”

Reflection:

    The essay talks about the current generation's use of social media, privacy, and the positive and negative effects of it. There is a reason as to why an age restriction is needed when using Facebook. It could be the reason that there are content online that is not suited for minors since it could influence them into doing wrong, making the wrong decisions in life, and many more. Although Facebook is aware of what is happening to their system, it is still the parents’ responsibility to monitor their children’s safety online and to look out for their children’s welfare. As a user of Facebook, I have seen news consisting the minors’ misuse of social media, and it is mainly the fault of the parents that do not monitor their children on social media.

5 Things That I’ve Learned

1. It has been a commonplace that Admissions officers check applicant’s Facebook profile as part of college acceptance and job security.

2. Younger people (ages 18 and below) are much more concerned about their privacy than older people (ages 19 and above).

3. There is a Law to protect the online identities of children under 13 years of age.

4. Although there is an age restriction for registering an account in Facebook, there are still many children under the age restriction that has an account in Facebook.

5. We must be cautious of what we post on Social Media since some companies check our profiles when applying for a job.

5 Integrative Questions

1. Since companies these days use our social media as a reference as to who we are, should we risk our privacy and enhance our Social Media profile so that they would know more about us?

2. Will there be a day where we can undo everything we have posted on social media.

3. Why is it that younger users of Facebook are much more concerned about their privacy than older users.

4. Why is there a Do Not Track Kids Act?

5. Is our social media our own personality?