Читать книгу Overcoming Internet Addiction For Dummies - David N. Greenfield - Страница 32

Unfortunately, because everything online is vulnerable to hacking, there is a risk that sensitive information such as finances or other personal data can be hacked into, stolen, ransomed, or corrupted. Nothing is fully safe and secure online, and care must be taken to protect sensitive and private information, including, but not limited to, financial data.

The openness and easy accessibility of the Internet, along with the proliferation of social media, have created a firestorm of problems with cyberstalking and cyberbullying, as it is easy to troll someone online and track their digital and social footprint. Even more damaging, however, is the ease and relative frequency with which cyberbullying can occur. When someone says something about someone online, it’s difficult to erase the sting and stain of what is said. Perhaps the worst part is that a powerful feature of the Internet is its broadcast capability — and this makes cyberstalking and cyberbullying that much easier. Anyone can say anything online, and short of overt hate speech, and sometimes including it, it’s easy to get away with saying some psychologically damaging things about someone. This is an all-too-common occurrence for children, tweens, and teens, and there have been numerous cases where significant emotional damage was done and that, in some cases, resulted in suicides.

The Internet is powerful and can be used to communicate with others, but care must be taken to remember that everything said online is amplified and potentially broadcast to the world.