Thursday 4 February 2016

Internet Friends

I got asked a very important question today, and I feel like I should tell you how I fell about the subject of internet friends. Don't get me wrong, back in the early 21st century and pretty much since the internet was popular, it's been a very easy way to spread hate, stalk people or fake profiles. But now that we're in 2016, I feel like the potential for internet friends has grown significantly. I myself have my own internet friends, and we love and care for each other, honestly they're like my second family! But when it comes to the point when you want to meet up, I say that's completely fine if you know what the person has looked like, have chatted with them on skype. Pretty much if you have seen their face, you're with the believing them part.

I myself love the idea of internet friends, what's better than having a friend who lives in a completely different area/country than you? They could teach you so many things about their place, what traditions they do, who are their idols etc. You could learn so many things about a single person thanks to social media, and in my opinion that bloody amazing! Unfortunately, adults may not be so keen on the idea of making internet friends. When your parents/guardians first discovered the internet, they were probably told it was a dangerous place filled with pedophiles and strangers with opinions, and in the most case, they're right. Sure the internet can be home to many internet trolls, social media stalkers and people who are just rude and ignorant. But that doesn't mean your parents are alway right, ya know?

I feel like some parents need to trust their kids a lot more with the technology. Like I understand that there are strangers out there who would want to rape me, but I'm thirteen years old, I'm practically as smart as Kevin McCallister, actually a lot smarter considering the kid was seven years old in the first movie. Anyway, let's take a step back from the Christmas Classics considering it's now February the 4th and the fact that we're talking about something pretty important here. Parent's should be okay with letting their kids be on the internet for as long as they want, doing whatever they want to do, this is what my guardian's did to me and I turned out mostly okay in the head. Sure there are things that have left good and bad memories from being on the internet too much burned in my head, but it's all worth it now that I myself have really sweet and caring internet friends that I can rely on for so many things! I hope to meet up with them one day because that would be such a nice thing to achieve.

Moral:
Be able to trust your kids, don't worry they can take care of themselves! Also, just because your parents/guardians believe they're right when it comes to internet friends, try showing them the true stories of people meeting up after being friends via screens for years, it will bring tears to their eyes. But this doesn't mean you can't be safe online, if anything bad happens to you online, don't be afraid to ask your parents/guardians for advice. And if the situation is personal and you don't want to get anyone worried or angry, there is always advice at https://www.ceop.police.uk :)

- Saff xx

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