Bittersweet world of the Internet

I was very interested in Danah Boyd’s article. When I first began reading I thought to myself, how can a thirty four year old understand what the web means to teenagers?.  After reading into Danah’s personal story, I understood how she could relate to these teenagers. After going through what she did, she probably needed some sort of outlet like the web also. I believe Danah is dead on when she talks about parent’s misconceptions of the internet. I remember when MySpace was becoming popular and I made an account for myself in eighth grade. My mom completely freaked out that I had one, because she just had the wrong idea about it. She looked at pages like MySpace or Facebook as places for the “creeps” to pick up on kids. It is understandable that at a certain age kids might not have enough knowledge or common sense on how to protect themselves on those websites. However, I feel like now a day those sites have gained a lot better privacy.  When it comes to teenagers, or anyone it seems as though they gain a sense of “courage” behind a computer screen. This could be good and bad in some cases. I feel that cyber bullying has become a larger issue since MySpace and Facebook. A lot of things are said over the internet, that many high schoolers would not say to someone face to face.  However, as Danah was saying teenagers also use the web as a place for support. The internet is a place that allows many people to reach out and find others who can relate, understand, or just listen to them. I feel that is very helpful in many cases. Behind a computer screen, depending on the site, a person may not be able to judge you on “appearance”. They can take your story or whatever you need to say , and get to know you. I know being a part of a social network has helped me in a lot of regards, even though I have been on that other end of being cyber bullied. Kids should be allowed access to that outlet as long as it is protected, and they are not abusing sites.