Growing Up Online - Emily M.

After view the Frontline Documentary, Growing Up Online, I wasn't surprised to see all of these young kids and teenagers whos lives surround the internet. The story that started the whole video documentary was of a young girl, Jessica Hunter, who used Myspace to create a new identity. She became Autumn Edows, a goth artist and model. She posted photos of herself that were very provocative wanting to fit in. She states, "I was only 14 but looked like I was 18", "I just became this whole different person."
I think that this says that we look to fit in. We want to be in the in crowd, to feel wanted. We are able to become this whole different person online if we want to. This is the part that parents are afraid of. Girls are hooked on this guy they met online thinking that he is there age when he is in reality a 35 year old man. We trust online. There are no rules online. A 14 year old boy was updating his myspace. The age limit on Myspace is 16. So you just change the year you were born and you're in. His younger brother was accepting a friend request on a gaming site without knowing who the stranger was. This is the part parents worry about.
We are too trusting online. We are also obsessed with the knowing that we can go online when ever we want. We can get to that online chat room to talk to our friends. We can see anybody's pictures online that they choose to post to their facebook or myspace pages. We are controlled by the internet. Although it isn't private we allow ourselves to vent to our friends through our updates or on our pages. Its how we connect but we don't allow ourselves to limit our time online because that is how our lives are controlled.
If i were doing a story on the impact of the internet and digital media on my own life i would probably write about fitting in, and how we use the internet as that source. I remember getting my myspace account in 7th grade, i wasn't the most popular kid, but on myspace i could be. I could post pictures of myself, just like Jessica Hunter did, and i could feel good about the comments i was getting on them. It wasn't until my parents found out that i realized how stupid it was to want to fit in at the price that i was paying. When were sitting at home, we automatically reach for the computer and pull up our pages. We need to know whats going on in everyones lives. We love to be a part of everybody's buisness. Recently a family from our church went through a terrible time with their daughter. As you read that line, i bet you were wondering what happened to her. Thats exactly what the internet does. We want to know, We have to know. And because of the internet, we are able to figure things out. The internet and digital media has had a huge impact on my life. On everyones life.