Dangers of Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites have replaced the coffee shops, bars and other social hot spots as a the main place for young people to interact. Each person with a myspace or facebook account, can log on, share their pictures, thoughts, videos and any other form of information that they are willing to unveil. While it seems all in good fun, allowing anyone to see this personal information can cause serious repercussions.

Facebook can be detrimental to prospective college students awaiting an acceptance letter. Today more and more college admissions officers are logging onto facebook to learn about their potential students. When an admissions officer sees racy photos or underage drinking their opinions of the student could be greatly affected. It's not only admission officers that are searching this site, but upperclassmen also see the postings of incoming students. At the University of Redlands upperclassmen became so incensed by the party comments made on the Redlands facebook group page, that they brought it to the attention of the university administration.

Facebook has also made its presence known in several courtroom proceedings. When a lawyer receives information on a new case, one of the first things that they do is log onto facebook, and read information of the plaintiffs and the defendants. In one Rhode Island case, a 20 year old male was charged with reckless driving after severely injuring a fellow youth. His sentence could have been relatively mild, with a short bid in a county jail, but because of facebook, he ended up serving two years in a state penitentiary. It turns out that the trial lawyer did some facebook investigation and found pictures of the defendant drinking on the night of the crash.

Several child pornography cases have also stemmed from facebook. In one New Mexico case, a 15 - year - old girl was charged with child pornography for sending naked pictures of herself through facebook. It was even considered to charge the recipient of the pictures.

Facebook does have its advantages throughout this generation. However, it is important that we share the dangers of this social website with our young people.