A “Genuine” Friend?

by Megan

The Internet is full of possibilities. Shopping, gambling, paying bills, and even attending an online college is an option. Another popular pastime of the Internet is social networking. People use it to reconnect with old pals and to stay in touch with friends and families. Some though, gain new friendships from people they meet on the network.

Anybody can just fill in a profile with whatever they can think of off the top of their head, and with a click of their mouse, it appears on their page for everyone to see. Who can really tell if someone is an elephant trainer or a high school student?

People have to rely on their own judgment to decide if the person at the other end is reliable or just a fraud. The sad truth is many still fall for bogus material that people create. Some can be harmless jokes or gags made up just for entertainment, others might be more dangerous. A “genuine” friend that you met over the Internet can just as well be an old sex and porn driven guy pretending to be a 16-year-old guy or girl.

Every week we hear of new cases where girls have disappeared after trying to secretly get together with guys they have met over the Internet. Most of the victims are either returned or never found. An example of a happy conclusion is of when a15-year-old girl was returned home after she had allegedly been with a man she met on MySpace.com.

MySpace, a popular fad of the younger generation, enables people to meet any of the more than 60 million members. Users can post personal details about themselves on their profile including where they live. There have been many incidents of sexual predators targeting minors that they have met through the site.

The fact of the matter is people should be more responsible with what they convey and expose to the public world of the Internet.