Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Dark side of Technology
Often it is hard to come up with a topic for this blog, but today it was easy. Unfortunately. Today my parapro confiscated a digital camera from a group of boys. They were watching a video and making some very telling comments. For the sake of decorum, I will not share what the boys were saying. When she figured out how to work the camera, we found that a girl in the middle school had made her own little amateur porn video. I did not view the video and I did not ask for details (I do not need the nightmares) so I do not know exactly what was on the video or how explicit it got. Now I realize that I was on the naive side as a child, but when I was in middle school I was incredibly embarrassed just to hold my boyfriend's hand in front of people. This young lady is passing her camera around to several boys to watch. I sincerely hope this is a very isolated incident, but I fear that it is not. Tools like digital cameras, cell phones with cameras, and the Internet allow people to do so much without having to go through a third party. For example, you do not have to go to a photo department to get film developed. How does posting explicit videos or pictures in a public forum fall under doing things anonymously? As I work with teens and many adults, even though they are posting on a public forum they do not seem to understand that anyone can see it. Maybe they are counting on the sheer size of the web to protect them from people they know seeing what they post? I am not sure if people feel more bold because of the sense of anonymity or if all the outrageous things available makes some think they have to do something bigger and bolder. I realize I am being a bit cynical, but what is it about human nature that makes us take new technology and one of the first things that happens is we figure out how to use it for porn? Think about it. When a new technology starts to catch on, people bulk at it because it starts being used in relation to sex. Social sites are dangerous because sexual predators are on them. The Internet must be filtered because of all the porn. Movies must be rated so minors cannot see anything with the wrong rating. Music and TV must be rated for the same reason. Geez, it makes me understand why the Amish think technology corrupts. However, even with all the problems I am still willing to take my chances, I will just make sure that I never borrow someone else's digital camera.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Wow, Jenny, that is incredibly frightening! At twenty-seven years old I am bashful about posting a video of myself on YouTube for a project, but I cannot even imagine the scenario you mentioned in your blog. There are predators around every corner, and sadly, this girl is exploiting herself to hormonal teenage boys. Sometimes I wonder if I even want to have children because of all of these worries we now face for them. I remember when I was a child my parents told me "not to speak to strangers," but now it has been further expanded to the Internet and not just the grocery store.
I saw this movie called "All the Invisible Children" a couple of months ago. It's collection of short films about neglected children around the globe directed by famous directors. the best one was by spike lee who dealt with the issue of growing up with HIV/AIDS in the inner city. the most memorable scene is at the end of the short film when the HIV girl gets in a fight with another girl that's picking on her because of her condition. as the two 10 year olds swing at each other underneath a swingset the perspective shifts from watching the fight to the crowd cheering them on. they're the same age as the girls fighting and hooting and hollering, shouting obscenities, etc. all with their camera phones out to record the moment.
Goodness. It seems hard to believe, and yet, it is happening all the time. I am twenty-six, but I can remember thinking that I knew everything in middle school. The reality was that I did not know enough to be afraid. That, and I went to a strict school where something like that wasn't even discussed in the secrecy of the girls' bathroom.
I'm just glad that this was caught and that the parents will understand how mature their little girl is trying to be.
That is scary. There is so much technology out there that is great but people learn how to abuse it. I can't believe a middle school girl would do that. I have friends that are teachers so they tell some pretty horrible stories about things that I don't even I knew about when I was in middle school.
As the mother of a thirteen year old girl your posting is especially upsetting. There is so much pressure on kids to be "popular" and it's upsetting to think that this girl's judgment is so skewed that she imagines this one way to achieve it. Quite often I read your class's postings to Laura but I'm going to skip this one. It's just a little too close for comfort. I'd rather keep her naive for a bit longer.
Post a Comment