Revolutionized of technology indeed makes people’s life easier. We learned about how communication changes from the form of analogue to digital form now. In this era, almost everything can be replaced by technology. I believe, people in the last decade had no idea how a tiny piece of hardware being called ‘smartphone’ nowadays can bring such a huge impact to the life of mankind on the Earth.
Smartphone, as suggested by the name, it is smart. Almost every people has a smartphone on hand nowadays. People call it information at the tip of the finger for a reason. You can do a lot of things with your smartphone. From waking you up in the morning till the moment you go to bed, you rely on the smartphone. Even when you are communicating to people, you rely on technology too.
Well, it was claimed that the advent of communication technology connects us more easily and in a fast speed. The emergence of new media suggested an openness to create an interactive society. The main idea of new media is about interaction which involves a two- way communication between participants. Our society today is shaped by this powerful information that we receive and through our interaction. No doubt, it is helping in our society’s development. But behind these advantages, do people see the dark side of it?
Because now people can get connected anywhere, anytime, sometimes it invites danger.
Most of the children today has smartphones. They have a Facebook account, WhatsApp, Wechat, Twitter and all sorts of social media which were known to connect and interact with people from everywhere. That is the danger that I would like to share about.
Sexual grooming
Have you heard of this term?
Sexual grooming. According to Dr. Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist. There are six stages of it which are targeting the victim, gaining the victim’s trust, filling the need of the victim, isolating the victim, sexualizing the relationship and maintaining control over the victim. It works in a way that the predator get close to their victim, establishing a friendly relationship with them such as sweet talk them, pretending to have similar interest with them and when they think it is the time, they will isolate their victim and gain control over their victim.
Usually, these predators or groomers would find their prey online. Because they can go anonymous behind the keyboard, pretending to be someone who is attractive to the victim and groom them. When children are chatting or interacting in the chat room with strangers online, they might not realize that they are being groomed and the potential danger behind it. Instead, they might just think that they are meeting with new friends and expanding their social cycle. Their parents might also not be there 24/7 to monitor their children’s activity online and not noticing that their children are being exposed to such potential danger. Do you really know who the new friends that you encountered online really are?
There is an article I came across and it describes how did this grooming brings harm to the victim and the family http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/internet-safety-day-hannah-h-mother-paedophile-online-grooming-11-year-old-daughter-facebook-webcam-a7560801.html.
In this article, it mentioned that
"It began with him sending her friendly messages, a few jokes, some emojis thrown in – all relatively innocent. This progressed to asking her to turn the webcam on; I didn’t even know Facebook had a webcam option at that time. She resisted at first, but they were building up a friendship and in the end she felt obliged. She told me that she was also intrigued."
We never realized all these actions that seem no harm to us is actually the beginning of grooming. It seems so innocence and we might think of as people is only trying to be friendly to us. From my opinion, sexual grooming does not necessarily happen on children only. It might happen to everyone as long as you are not aware of the potential danger you are facing.
Thanks for the sharing. It is a nice sharing that explain how actually people will involve in the online grooming. From the link shared, it is a story that warn parents that they should always keep their eyes on their children. We do not know when our beloved one will be targeted as the victim. Not only children, people who do not aware of the danger will have the potential to be targeted. The danger caused by Internet is alarming in this world. Children are always chosen as the victims.
ReplyDeleteYou may want to know more. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2016/jun/21/internet-used-in-eight-cases-of-child-sex-abuse-every-day-nspcc-finds
nowadays, most of us disclose too much about ourselves on the social media, such as personal information, interests, daily activities and so on. such overwhelm disclosure has make the groomers able to find their target easier as they able to make interpretation even without more deep investigation about the victims. to prevent it and to protect ourselves, we should especially be careful with what we post and reveal on social media. don't make those actions become the reason why we are targeted by them.
ReplyDeleteYes, I totally agree with you too. Oversharing information about ourselves on social media can lead us into insecurity. As mentioned from The Wall Street Journal (2014), 74% of the parents are sharing too much information about the child on social media. You can refer on https://www.wsj.com/articles/should-parents-post-photos-of-their-children-on-social-media-1463968922 to get more detail information. Therefore, the parents must have the awareness about this issue.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, the sexual grooming is getting serious among underage people. They are less aware of the danger of exposing information that could lead them to further harm. So, we do need proper guidance from parents or friends to avoid this.
ReplyDeleteThe video below has shown the seriousness of sexual grooming among underage children. Feel free to check this out.
https://www.facebook.com/uniladmag/videos/2600572469965796/
Thanks for sharing it. Children always become victim as they still young and curious about everything. Their naive thinking have make them easily been target as the sexual grooming victim. Parents should watch out for who their children talking to online. This is one of the social experiment which shows us how easy children been targeted by the pedophia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jMhMVEjEQg
ReplyDeleteYes! Social media is a popular platform for people to know more friends. People, especially girls are always cheated by online friends. Therefore, sexual grooming happens! There are many kinds of people. We do not know who is good, who is bad. We do not know what they are thinking. Do their main purpose of using social media or communication technology is only for making friends? Therefore, we need to be careful all the time when using any kind of communication technology which people can know our personal information. Do not simply go in their trap and believe in those sweet words.
ReplyDeleteThink twice and be wise!
Well, it is totally true. I personally experienced that while I was chatting with some online gamer through the platform of online games. First, the conversations were started normal by saying "hi", but as days passed by, the more we chatted, the relationships seemed to become closer, and when the gamer asked my We Chat ID, I could not refuse that request even though I knew I should not. However, I also really meet some new friends through online because they are being honest in the first place with their identities. Thus, I think as long as we are cautious with these online relationships and mature enough to handle them, we would be fine.
ReplyDelete