Online dating has become a new trend. Websites like eHarmony. com, match. com, and zoosk. com are websites at the top of the online dating world. Online dating sites are advertised almost everywhere, but mostly on television. Thousands of people have been able to find true love and can now live happily with those they met online. According to “5 Facts About Online Dating” fifty-nine percent of Americans believe that online dating is a good way to meet people. For example, my uncle Martin found his wife Tamie through eHarmony.
They started talking online a few years ago and eventually met each other and began dating in person. The world of online dating have had their share of negatives. These cons include cyber bullying, being “Catfished,”and also the occurrences of pedophiles/sex offenders. According to M. T. V, fifty-seven episodes of “Catfished” has aired since 2012, their host, Nev Schulman, states “hundreds of cases go unnoticed every day. ” Social networks have an influence on people that include being involved in identity thief, cyber bullying, as well online predators.
The popular television show “Catfish” is a prime example of the bad outlook of online dating. A “Catfish” has been defined as someone who pretends to be someone else over Facebook or other social networks with false identities in order to find a potential online romance. Cases like this pop up every day. When the television show “Catfish” debuted, light was shed on this subject that thousands of people seeking true love may face. “Catfish” has made it easier for online lovers to become more suspicious and recognize flaws that may appear in their own online relationships.
Most of the occurrences on “Catfish” didn’t work out in the end, but some cases worked even with the false information that was given at first. “Catfish” can help give insight of how online predators can deceive people in the long run. Since this “digital age” blew up, so did many of the flaws within it. Online bullying is anywhere and has become a factor in some of the world’s suicide count. Known mostly as “cyber bullying,” online bullying is using the internet and other technologies to verbally hurt or harm other people. Cyber bullying has become more common especially among the younger generations.
Some teenagers have taken their own lives because others online have harassed them. The bullies made them feel like nothing and without telling an adult, they took matters into their own hands. According to “cyberbullyhotline,” twenty percent of kid’s cyberbullied think about suicide, and one in ten attempt it. According to “merckmanuals” Forty- five-hundred kids commit suicide each year. Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among young people, but the rate of completed suicides is highest in people aged forty-five to sixty-four.
People who live alone are more likely to attempt or complete suicide. I conducted an interview with Robin Ware, “Cyberbullyhotline” employee, he answers phones to help kids with their problems of being bullied or thinking about committing suicide. I had a set of three question I asked Mr. Ware to see what he learned from working with this company. How many calls does the company get a day of people thing about committing suicide or getting bullied? “About 16,000 calls nationwide the company averages day. What are your strengths/weaknesses? “Strengths trying to help kids or adults from their problems. Weaknesses is not always getting to the person before they end up hurting themselves or even worse killing themselves. ”
Do you get emotionally attached to person you talk to? “It’s hard not to cause when you have kids their age or family members going through something as them you have soft spot for them, and you want to help them so bad but sometimes talking to them isn’t always enough. Cyber bullying is hurting our younger generation, and its killing them fast. A pro in the world of the Internet and social networking is the catching of online sex offenders and predators. The popular show “To Catch a Predator,” with Chris Hansen, was the frontline of online offenders as well as predators. According to news weekly, RADAR software, a technology for law enforcement helped convict more than two-thousand sexual predators. This show was created to confront adults who were on the hunt for younger people after contacting them online.
In order to catch them, Hansen and his team would disguise themselves as younger girls online. They would arrange for the offenders and predators to meet them at a decoy house and would use a young girl as a decoy. The offenders and predators would show up to the house thinking they were meeting a young girl but ended up being arrested by the local law enforcement. While lots of cases of undercover sting operations who convict the predators and offenders, a few predator cases go unnoticed.
According to news weekly, teenagers who regularly use the internet say they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation online, yet seventy-five percent of children do not tell a parent when contact like this occurs. If this show was broadcasted over the world, the less the crime should appear. Social networking and online dating have their share of cons. Cons included cyber bullying, being “Catfished,” and also sexual predators and offenders. Cyber bullying has led to depression and even suicide among youth in America.
Being “Catfished” is when people who have online relationships lie about who they are to the significant other who is being completely truthful. As the digital age has been on the rise, a number of online predators and sex offenders have increased as well. According to “merckmanuals” There are seven-hundred –forty-seven thousand, forty- hundred and eight registered sex offenders in the United States today. That number has risen by twenty-three percent just since 2006. There are one-hundred and six thousand, two-hundred-sixteen registered sex offenders in the state of California alone.
Close to nine out of every ten sex crimes are committed by individuals that do not have any record of ever committing a sex crime before. Eighteen percent of all women in the United States say that they have been raped at some point in their lives. It is estimated that one out of every four girls will be sexually abused before they become adults. Unfortunately, most of the time we never even hear about what is happening in the dark corners of America. When someone does shine a light on the filth once in a while, it can be absolutely shocking.