Media Mind Games - Beware of the Internet?

Before the internet, there was a certain kind of safety people would expect for their children. Keeping minors safe on the internet is a lot easier said than done in this day and age. As Edwards mentions in the text, "Victims, Villians, and Vixens", the media plays a giant role in helping create a false perception of the dangers of the internet. Sure, the internet isn't a place for minors (most of the time), but I feel like as long as kids know the basics, then they should be safe. The internet is sort of like real life, and needs to be treated as such. Many kids that end up victims of online predators were indulging in conversations with strangers. And similar to the rules in the real world, no one should be talking to people they don't know. Society is always ready to fuel the fire of the media and shed a negative light on anything that produces a corrupt outcome.

For instance, the media had portrayed the infamous Craigslist killer as a man targeting women on the internet, when in fact, he was targeting women who were soliciting sex on the internet. And due to media uproar, Craigslist was forced to shut down it's romance section because of these murders. Now, is Craigslist an unsafe place on the internet? Not really, but just like prostitution in the street, women who use the internet to sell sex run a high risk of dangerous activity, and meeting up with shady individuals. And contrary to what the media would like us to believe, according to "Moral Panic about Girls Online", since the early 90s, the percentage of girl victims of online encounters has declined. Young girls are at no more of a risk online than anybody else, even though the media constantly shows girls being abducted or victims of online encounters. We have a responsibility when it comes to using the internet, and keeping children safe while using the internet. We can't trust the media to tell us what is dangerous, from what is not, because their job is to catch people's attention, and in most cases, the most negative news is the best news. No one wants to hear about the millions of kids who don't use the internet to meet up with strangers, instead we always hear about isolated incidents. What we should understand from this weeks readings is that we need to educate those who are at a greater risk of being taken advantage of on the net. And that's not just young girls, it's young boys as well as the elderly, and anyone in between who isn't familiar with the ins and outs of the internet.