Self-Disclosure and Internet Health

With the month of September coming to an end, and October just beginning. In Introduction to Publication we have covered a variety of topics over the course of the week.  One of them being, the dangers of the internet.

Starting off class at the beginning of the week, we were told to copy down some terms, and define them.

Self-Disclosure, Reciprocate, and Sexting.

• Self-Disclosure- Sharing one's private, sensitive, and confidential information about themselves, to others.

Things that would be considered self-disclosure are: Your telephone number, address, age, height, general geographic location, Social Security number, (Though, I do hope all who read this are intelligent enough to know better than that.) bank account information, birth date, credit card information, and gender.

 Are only a few things that fall under the topic.

photo of bank, available http://www.freefoto.com/preview/31-52-6/Bank, taken: May 14, 2002

• Reciprocate- To give in, and return. 

• Sexting- Sending or receiving  sexually explicit photos or videos by text message, or any other digital device.

With that being said, there are ways to avoid sexting!

In the comic strip below made on the website Makebeliefscomix, you will see a way to avoid sexting.

 In the strip above, Kit the girl who was asked to 'sext' her boyfriend. Instead of giving in to pressure, she used humor to get out of sending him the picture.  So Kit instead, emailed her boyfriend a photo of an alien.

There are other ways to avoid sexting and those are listed below.

• Humor
• Act innocent
• Be creative and sly, (Kit used this technique along with Humor to avoid sexting)
• Stress discomfort
• Or you can just change the subject.

Introduction to Publication, another topic was covered.

That being building relationships online.

We had an in-class discussion.

During that discussion, we went over how people act differently online then off, how to build a relationship online, and more about the dangers of the internet.

 Below, you will see yet another comic strip created by myself on Makebeliefscomix.

In this strip, Kit and her boyfriend shaggy are currently in a long-distance relationship and are only able to communicate through digital devices.

 Kit, decided to use email to communicate with Shaggy, and that helped build their relationship.

Other than email, there are multiple ways to build online relationships.

• Social networking such as, Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace.
• Cellular devices such as, texting on phones, face time on iPhones, and calling.
• There are video chats such as, Oovoo, Skype, and Tinychat.
• Dating websites like: Eharmony, and ChristainMingle.
• There are also other cites that contain chat-rooms, and private messaging like: Meebo, YouTube, and even Google+

Those are just a few ways to communicate online.

With this new Web2.0 tool that has been used, there are almost nothing negative that I can say about it. Other than the fact that I disliked how you can only use up to four panels at a time, and the low graphic resolution. Which should not surprise me, since the comic strip was made on a free online website.

On the bright side of things, this tool was entertaining. The comical characters were intriguing to me, especially how they showed their emotions.

With the remainder of the week that we had,  we used it going over a new aspect of Digital Driver's License.

The section of the website that we covered, had everything to do with the other things that we completed over the course of the week.

The main aspect of it was Internet Health.

Covering the dangers of sexting, texting while driving, and what can happen on various social networking sites.

It included a story of a young teenage girl, who took her own life because of sending a single nude photo of herself to an ex-boyfriend.

Which was saddening. It made me think about how people around me could be doing that, and the pain that those whose photos are made public endure.

With this information being known to me, I never really thought about sexting or the dangers of it. Now that I know, I will never even think about it if I'm asked to sext someone.

It's illegal, and if the photo is of a minor, and sent by one. It is considered child pornography.

There is also the 'what if' factor. For example: What if, the recipient forwarded the photo to someone else. That could cause a chain reaction, and before it is known an entire town may be aware of what has been done.

In class we ( The students around my seat ) had to come up with a solution to a conversation.

It began with a simple conversation between two teenagers: Jake, and Shaila.

Jake, had asked Shaila to sext him, and the remainder of the conversation we as a group had to come up with it.

Shaila:I don't think that would be a good idea.
Jake: Why not?
Shaila:Because I am smart enough not to do that.
Jake: :( I am breaking up with you.
Shaila: No wait...
Jake: Wait for what?
Shaila: Nothing, you are a jerk!
Jake: Fine then. Lets see what Photoshop can do.
Shaila: No! Know what? I am not some five dollar hoe. Do what you wish!
Jake: Okay, Fine then! :(






The conversation ends. 

That concludes yet another summery of what has been accomplished in Ms.Payseur's Introduction to Publication's third class, and another wonderful week has been finished.