"Growing up Online" summary

In the documentary “Growing up Online” produced and directed by Rachel Dretzin and John Maggio in 2008, is about different things that the internet enables what it enables specifically for teens. In “Growing up Online” they talk about a lot of different issues involving the internet. A few of the issues they talked about was how students can use the internet to cheat. Students don’t read books any more, if they have to complete a book report all they need to do is go to spark notes.com which gives enough of the book to do the report so that students do not need to actually read the book. The internet provides an escape from reality, in this documentary they interview a young teen girl who used the internet to be someone she couldn’t be in real life. She made a profile of herself under a false name and she became someone she was not seen as in reality. This girl said in the video "I didn't feel like myself, but I liked the fact that I didn't feel like myself. I felt like someone completely different. I felt like I was famous." What I think she meant in this quote was that she liked not being herself sometimes it was like a break from reality, and she got a lot of attention. Online as someone who she in real like was not she felt she was loved and liked. Another thing this documentary talks about is how the internet has increased bullying or how it has made bullying worse. They explain how years ago there was bullying however it only went on at school; once a child came home they were safe. Then they go on to explain that because of the internet kids being bullied are bullied at school and at home because they come home and go online ware kids continue to cyber bully them therefore they cannot escape it. In the documentary they interview a father of a young boy who committed suicide because he was being bullied so much. Parry Aftab says the real trouble with the internet or what we should really be concerned about it is, “the trouble that kids might get into on their own. Through social networking and other Web sites, kids with eating disorders share tips about staying thin and depressed kids can share information about the best ways to commit suicide.” In other words Parry is saying that with the internet kids who want to can hurt themselves very badly. If a child or anyone for that matter wants to commit suicide but doesn’t know how to tie the knot all he/she has to do is goggle it and there are multiple different websites. A lot of the information on the internet is not something that teens should not have access to. Some information can be very dangerous in the instable hands of a teenager, and if used wrong can lead to death or injury.

If I were doing a story on the impact of the internet and digital media on my own life I would write about how it is a big distraction a lot of the time. I would talk about the pros and cons of the internet, how it helps me and how it holds me back. The internet does help me however most of the time it just distracts me and deprives me. Instead of doing my homework when I get home I go onto face book and it is almost impossible for me to get off of it and begin my homework. A lot of the times my mom comes and takes my computer away, however by that time it is already very late and I because I was on face book and not doing my home work I end up staying up all hours of the night completing assignments. I love the internet, I love face book, I love the media (T.V.) however I do realize that it is not the best thing for me a lot of the time. The recourses that the internet provides such as spark notes and ask.com makes it irresistibly easy to cheat. I have used these websites on many occasions for assignments and a lot of the time I do not retain the information I read online because it is just a quick answer. For example my teacher last year gave us a packet of questions and told us we could use the internet to find the answers, I did however the next day in class when we were discussing it I had all the right answers written down but I did not remember them. I believe that the internet helps us in the short run but in the long run is very damaging. I am sure that later in my life I will be doing something or have to do something and won’t be able to use the internet and I will be completely lost. I am not saying that the internet is a bad thing but I do believe that we as teenagers or at least I do not use it for the best things. For me the shortcuts provided by the internet are just too tempting to not use and I know one day it will come back to haunt me. [: