Facebook has changed our lives in more ways than one. In my case, it has allowed me to find and reach out to friends I thought I have long lost. To others, it has helped them discover new friends and even gain new loves.
However, Facebook is not all flowers and warm sunshine. There is a darker side to it. I found it frightening to know that children get hurt here. We thought that keeping our kids indoors protect them. But through the networking site, few have been tricked into doing things they didn’t like, while some have gotten into fights.
In fact, in Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School in Union County, New Jersey, two cafeteria fights are being blamed on Facebook. What started as simple disagreements in the site became real life fights. In that High School, girls began calling each other names and then started slapping each other. Although it was a brief clash, one girl with scratches on her chest was reported to have carried a bloody ring out of the cafeteria. This ring was believed to be a nose ring that was ripped from her face. Principal David Heisey suspended six girls because of these fights.
Kids are especially vulnerable in these social networking sites because it is still very important to them how others perceive them. They will get into fights or do things they don’t like just to preserve their image.
It has been reported that only five percent of the kids tell their parents when they get harassed online. So, parents have to be proactive to protect their children from online dangers. It only takes a negligible amount of effort. After all, I’m sure you don’t want anything bad to happen to your kids.
