The issues raised on 'Growing Up Online' were very interesting and true. Many children and teenagers practically live online. It can be dangerous as there are many predators out there but at the same time, it's a great way to stay connected with your friends and gain access to lots of information. Many parents do not know about what their children are doing when they go on the internet and if parents try to see what's going on, there's usually a way that the child can hide what they're doing. Many children have a 'safe' screen that is acceptable to their parents that they can just maximize when their parents come into their room.
Children will also tell their parents that they are doing their homework and there are some parents who will not question them, meanwhile their children can be talking to strangers or just playing games. A lot of children feel like they can express theirselves better on the internet because there is no one there to judge them and if someone makes a comment that they don't like, they can just block the person. In real life, it's not so simple.
The ideas behind Obama's campaign's use of social networking use was great as it helped do many of the advertising and allowed people to give donations quickly. People could view speeches and watch videos that supporters made. It gave people the chance to get more detailed information in their own time and do lots of research.
Second Life is great because it allows people to be something completely different from how they are and see how they feel trying out different sides of their personalities. They don't feel judged and they live in this virtual world that basically they can make all the rules. It's also great because many schools are now starting to use it in the classrooms as a way of allowing students to have fun but also learn in their different classes.
Second Life is also similar to Obama's campaign use of social networking because it was another way to pull in people to his ideas. It gave people a chance to view another side of his campaign and decide whether or not they support him.
Second Life is also good for children and teenagers as many look at someone and feel like they cannot be friends with that other person for a variety of reasons. Then once going to someone's MySpace or Facebook profile, a person might see that this other person they thought they had nothing in common with, actually has many similar hobbies and interests. This can create new friendships or even spark someone to create a new club at school.
Student can also express their creativity by learning different types of coding and designing their web pages however they want.
