Social media refers to the means of
interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information
and ideas in virtual communities and networks. In the same manner, social media
is quickly taking over the world, each interaction at a time. There is one
particular media outlet that I would like to talk about today and that is the
new up and rising Snapchat. Snapchat is a photo messaging application developed
by four Stanford students. Using the app, users can take photos, record videos,
add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. Users
set a time limit for how long recipients can view their photos, up to 10
seconds, after which it will be deleted from the recipient's device and the
company's servers.
So, now that you have an idea of what
Snapchat does, I recently just came across an article, “Teens' Nude Photos from
Snapchat Lead to Investigation.” The article states that, “Students at one New
Jersey high school could face child pornography charges if found in possession
of nude photos of classmates. Explicit images sent via Snapchat prompted a
police investigation after two freshman girls shared pictures on the
controversial app and later found them posted on Instagram. The Ridgewood High
School students sent photos to at least one male classmate who took screenshots
in order to save them to a gallery.” The article then goes into detail
pertaining that, “Snapchat has gained a reputation for being a sext-friendly
app, allowing users to take racy photos that automatically delete a few seconds
after being sent. Under New Jersey law, creating, transmitting or possessing
these sexually explicit images falls under child pornography and
"Endangering the Welfare of Children." This isn’t the first time kids
are taking advantage of social media and it will not be the last.
This particular blogs refers to Chapter 2, “Some Background
Debate”, in conclusion to the first paragraph, Media Power Versus People Power.
Pg. 22 Personally, I think social medias are being used at too young of age
groups. These teens are too young to understand the responsibility of these
social media apps. They are too immature and stupid to know how to use them
correctly. I wonder what social media will be on the new rise that will get
more teens in trouble? Will social media apps come up with a way to limit kids
creating crimes? How can social media keep kids safe? Does the media have a significant
amount of power over its audience or does the audience ultimately have more
power than the media? pg. 22
Hi Amy,
ReplyDeleteIt seems that whenever something good is created, someone has to come up with a way to use it in a negative way. When the Internet became popular, deviant individuals used it for pornography, and as a way to meet children on line for sex. (Just one example). I know that police in every state have been really diligent in weeding these people out and arresting them, and television shows about it have succeeded in bringing the problem out in the open, so parents can monitor what their kids are doing on their computers.
In an attempt to answer your last question, the audience has a tremendous amount of power because they create the demand for these new inventions, and then this results in huge sales for the company. However, there SHOULD be an age limit on some of these gadgets, and the companies should assume responsibility in figuring out a way to instantaneously recognize and block nude images before they get sent out and reproduced. Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but if people can invent complicated gadgets in the first place, they CAN figure out a way to facilitate responsible use.
Colleen