It has been three years since I joined a social networking website named "Cyworld". Like Myspace in US, I usually go to see my website every day, and check for new messages from my friends or update by posting images to show my daily life. I have considered this media as a good tool to connect people and keep in touch with them. After I moved to the US, I signed up in Facebook and Skype to get further advantages from these social network services. However, it was only a week ago that I realized this new technology could be the most assaulting one. Last weekend, I turned on Skype to talk with my parents and suddenly; one user attacked me with sexual harassment. I turned off the computer right after seeing his offensive word, but this experience has driven me to think more about the bad implications of the Internet such as addiction to it or Cyber bullying.
This is an image of a cyber funeral from the video dealing about "Chinese online addiction." Recently, online friends organized a cyber funeral for a girl who suddenly died after spending consecutive days on playing games without eating and sleeping. As seen in the picture, during the funeral, friends equipped as soldiers are bowing to the dead girl in a virtual battle. These online friends don't seem to be agitated in regard to her death. During the interview with a policeman, they said she was a kind and polite player. From this unbelievable incident, we realize how one single online game can cause a serious problem that can change the culture of the young generation.
In Chinese modern cities, online games are not just a tool for entertaining; they form networks, small societies, and virtual homes for anyone who wants to run away from their reality. Besides, people find themselves becoming more and more obsessed and violent when they play online games, lacking social ability in real life. According to the Li Jianduo, a vice chairman of the standing committee of the National People's Congress, ten percent of China's 40 million teenage Internet users are addicted to online games. This addiction can lead them to suffer from depression, academic and social problems and even illnesses.
Not only does this occur in China but many countries are also dealing with serious problem caused by Internet attack. For instance, South Korea is having a dangerous Internet bullying problem in its hands. A few weeks ago one actor killed himself in response to some homophobic online attacks. Recently, another Korean actress named Choi Jin Sil, committed suicide after a series of vicious Internet attacks incorporating abusive comments and rumors. US also has a problem with social networking websites. The girl by the name of Megan Meier killed herself after being a target in a Myspace hoax. All over the world, cyber bullying is dominating the lives of those who are not equipped against the exploitation of this new media. And the problem can be wider and deeper as it becomes a mainstream of everyday lives. With the widespread use of the blogs, emails and mobile phones with text messaging, video capability, cyber bullying can be carried on 24hours, reaching the victim at any time and in any place.
Some people may think the Internet has no problem in itself; it is a problem of the people. A popular saying goes "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." But in the actual world, the role of the Internet in changing people's reaction to a gray area of causality is so much sure. Perhaps then, the internet can still be partly blamed.First, it further became a means of bullying and addiction. Bullying in past has involved personal actions such as hitting, punching, teasing or intimidating Now, they can be easily expressed through internet with anonymity. Similarly, addiction has to do with cigarettes, alcohol and gambling, but are now evolving into online gaming. The Internet is to be blamed, as they are not just a new means to express anger, it is causing problems more vicious and more addictive than ever. Secondly, it changes the way people build relationships. Probably ten years ago, before modern technology such as mobile phones and email was so ubiquitous and entrenched, the way people build their relationships and express ideas were different. Most of them have few but intimate friends. They spend most of their time talking and hanging with their family, sibling/s, or coworkers. Personal interaction was the main tool for communication, which requires courtesy and respect to each other. Today, however, Internet users are building broad, but casual relationships through social websites. Rather than using their free time going to a movie or spending it with their families, they just surf the web instead. Some people even have a compulsive and out-of-control manner when they use computer interacting with no respect- hurting and insulting using anonymity.
So what do we have to do to prevent future attacks and addiction to the Internet that seems to be taking control of our lives? As Internet problems such as cyber bullying has just increased in recent years, there seems to be no perfect or effective solutions yet.
Although some governments are trying to pass laws that may introduce ethics to the cyber world; these are still under scrutiny. For instance, the Korean government is looking for a new law that will force people to reveal their name and ID numbers before they share their opinions, but many experts say it does not figure out the problem.
Thus for now, we, as individuals, should find our own solutions. We have to learn to make a balance between the new cyber world and the real world by critically judging the resources in the Internet. We should be able to make a dividing line in between these two realities and know which is which. For example, we should realize that an online game is simply a game that ends once the computer is turned off. It may take a level of violence to complete a level in an online game but it surely won't get you anywhere in the real world except in jail.
Criticisms, whether good or bad are also best expressed personally. This way, resolutions can easily be made after. Issues are only left hanging when people simply attack at each other from one end to another. More so, doing this anonymously online is only a manifestation of cowardice. The internet is to be used as a tool to get in touch with people, keeping relationships intact as much as possible and never the other way around.
Basically, these solutions are only possible if we use the internet with responsibility. Like all other technologies available today, the internet can either be used for the good or the bad. Ultimately, the question fires back at us, "What do we want to make of it?"
