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I can say as a whole I really enjoyed this class.  The experience has been enjoyable and enlightening.  The blog assignment that I liked the best was the one on Facebook and MySpace.  I enjoy both of these sites and enjoyed sharing my thoughts with the class.  These sites have gotten a bad rap, which I totally understand and agree with, but just as with anything if they are used the correct way and used for what they were intended there is nothing wrong with them. 

I also enjoyed the letters.  Having my mom call and talk about the letter was very heartwarming and a touching moment for her and I.  I also enjoyed the last weeks blog about misuse of the internet.  It was sad and disgusting to read about the horrific things people do to both children and adults.   This assignmenet was interesting also in that I knew about child stalkers but I realized just how bad bad it was, including the stalking of adults. 

The blog assignment I enjoyed the least would be the internet community from week six.    The reason is that I’m not really big on internet communities.  In another class I had to join one and I didn’t care for it then either.  I do know other people who belong to internet communities who really enjoy them.

I like the Wood and Smith book, but didn’t really like the Postman book.  It was difficult to understand and follow, but I did like it when I got into the book.   It was an informative book, they both were.

I would keep the layout of the class the same.  I liked having the postings and the blogs.  The one thing I would change is the due dates.  I admit that it was difficult for me to get it done on Tuesdays..  Having a due date of Sunday I would have liked much better.    A little more input from the instructor would be good.  And I believe the most important change would be people not approving responses to posts.  I know I have to approve responses but have never taken longer than 12 hours to do so.  I have had to do more responses because of this, which isn’t right.  Responses should have to be approved right away.

Child stalkers

The article I chose to read was Beware of Cyber Stalkers by Clint Van Zantz and the website is:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11101454/.   The article talks about how back before the internet predators had to actually go into the community and entice children and adults to go with them.  Now, all you need is a computer.  Predators will go onto sites such as myspace, facebook, or other blogs to find children or adults to fulfill the sick need they have.  These sites have little bits of information that predators need such as a hometown, interests, and the school the child attends.  This gives the predator a window of opportunity, a way to speak with the child and find common interests to try and lure them to a secluded place and hurt or kill them.  One older woman, she was 70 years old, she was called the “internet black widow.”  She would lure in older men and poison them once they were married at an attempt to take their money, she did this for fifteen years. 

Children are lured out and killed.  One such girl was a freshman in college.  She had a “space” (that’s what the article called it)  she had her picture posted, her likes, dislikes, interests, and activities on her site.   The girl was very trusting and met this man who killed her during rough sex.  She never knew that with so little information she gave the predator so much to work with.  These two cases are by far the only ones.  The article states that nearly one in five children are sexually solicited online usually by an adult or teenager posing as a child.

As for how to change this, that is a tough question.  I know myspace will not allow you have an account if your under fifteen, but you can lie about your birthdate so it is really not a deterrant.   Putting in a credit card (even though the site is free) would help some.  Children do not have credit cards so an adult would have to open the account.  These sites could also be monitored more than what they are now.  I also believe there should be tougher penalties for crimes against children as well as those on the internet.  Someone I do childcare for, their brother-in-law is on probation for sexually molesting a child.  He isn’t supposed to be on the computer or be alone with children.  It was proven that he is dating a girl with kids and he is alone with them.  He was caught and nothing happened.  But, my husbands wife is in prison for aggrivated theft and she received 19 months.  How is this?  A crime against a child is WAY worse than theft!! 

“However, it is a far less dangerous act to e-mail a hateful message or view a racist Website from a public computer than to stand in the middle of a town square in a white robe and pointy hood”  (Wood and Smith p. 189)  Although this is talking of members of the KKK, child predators can be in this group also.  It is easier to sit at your computer and stalk children in private than to go out in the community driving around looking for an unsuspecting child. 

Many people today just let their children roam free, both around town and in the internet.  Many children are home alone and have no supervision from an adult.  As a community this shows that our values have gone down, this is sad.  Children need their parents even as adults.  Leaving them to figure things out for themselves is reckless and negligent.

WILDCARD

I took a class in Woman Studies a few semesters ago.  One week we were talking about womens rights and whether women have the same rights as men and if in the home a husband and wife should have the same rights, and equal rights.   I know this may come across wrong in this class also so I will apologize now.

I stated that I do believe men and women should have the same rights both inside and outside of the home.  I believe housework as well as taking care of children should be split as equally as possible and everyone should do their share.  But (and this was the problem) I also believe that my husband is the head of the household.  We are equal in every way.  If you want to be honest I have a more dominant personality than my husband does.  I stand behind my husband but I admit that I let him take care of more difficult situations than I do.  I stayed home with my children, and technically still do, and I believe this is best for children.  I do childcare and earn a living on people who work outside the home but I still believe it’s best for the children if one parent stays home to raise them. 

So in this class this made all the women basically tell me off and tell me that I am part of the reason why women do not get a fair shake in the work force and it’s because of people like me why women aren’t treated equal.  Even though I tried to explain my side they never understood my side.  I believe one of the reasons is because I am nearly 36 years old and most of the people in my class were between 18 and 20 years old.  I have more life experience than they had (although one woman didn’t believe so because she had moved around a lot as a child).    I tried to reason with them all to no avail.  Needless to say not many of my posts after this one received much responses. 

I did speak with the professor and she understood what I had said and what I had meant.  So this would be the only way that the issue was resolved.   If this had happened fact to face I believe the students would have understood the point I was getting across and ;how I do believe in womens rights and equality. 

“People’s perceptions of the amount of telepresence in a given medium suggest that they are likely to consider how the messages they fashion through media are reflections on them.”  (Wood and Smith pg 56)  This is how I feel.  I believe that what I said was taken out of context and because of this the perception, or reflection, on me is poor.  I look like a 1940′s house wife who stands behind her man and lets him make all the decisions.