Web 2.0: To be Taken in Small Doses, or as Recommended by a Doctor(2nd Draft)

Eyner Munoz

Julie E. Huey

English 155

Fall 2009

In the article “It’s All About Us”, Steven Johnson argues that Web 2.0 has helped shine the media’s light on small stories that would have otherwise stayed within the community. On the other hand, in “Enough About Us”, Brian Williams claims that Web 2.0 is less beneficial because it allows us to filter out what we read and hear that doesn’t agree with our viewpoints. But not only do we filter out opposing point of views, but marketing companies also filter things for us so that they can sell us products based on what we browse through. But more importantly, Web 2.0 opened the door for underground groups of pedophiles to share their collections of pornography and for online sexual predators to set their traps. Even though Web 2.0 has simplified many activities in our lives, it is quickly becoming more of a danger than a helpful tool.

The list of benefits that Web 2.0 brings to our everyday life is endless. It would include things such as: allows us to view the latest news stories through out the day, gives us faster access to information from the past, present, and (sometimes) future, lets us communicate with people who are miles away instantly, plus many other. But one things that must be omitted from the list is that it allows us expand our horizons. Just like television and radio, we can be selective about what we use Web 2.0 for, and thus filter out what we don’t agree with. Williams states “the problem is that there’s a lot of information that citizens in an informed democracy need to know. .”. This is true in the sense that if we don’t expose ourselves to other viewpoints and perspectives, we risk only seeing the partial truth to everything. And if we continue on this path we will never get to the absolute truth and we will go on about our lives misinformed.

Another thing that contributes to our misinformed society are online marketing companies. These companies have found ways to spy on our web browsing history and thus place advertising that will appeal to us based on what websites we browse. They fail to realize that by doing so they fence us in with our already held beliefs even further than people already do on their own. Companies that are more reputable, like Google, Amazon, and Myspace, take advantage of their popularity to place massive advertisements on or around their site that appeals to the users interest without the users awareness. ”Moreover, traditional retailers have advantages over start-ups in online retailing because their reputation minimizes consumers’ perceived risk”. This quote from the article “If It’s Legal, is It Acceptable?” further shows that the sites that we trust constrict our currently held values and beliefs. If Web 2.0 can control what advertising we receive, what else is it controlling with out us knowing?

Web 2.0 users need to start to consider that they have become irresponsible with what they post and/upload online. It has recently become a trend to not keep anything personal or private. It has gotten to the point where everyone is sharing everything from what activities he or she is currently participating in to what is going on in his or her personal life. This practice and these sites can lead to much more dangerous situations. For example, a teen who blogs or posts about how her personal life is not going well can be befriended by a sexual predator (who thanks to the invisibility offered by the internet) can pose to be her same age, and even friendly looking. In her time weakness he can offer her a safe haven at his place to which the teen can choose to take and be captured in the trap. This scenario has repeated itself countless times and has even lead to the police having to create undercover agents who under go this scenario posing as teens in order to capture these sexual deviants. It has become an online epidemic that we need to begin to monitor thanks to Web 2.0. Gerri Willis, a journalist from CNN, stated during one of her reports that “it’s a scary reality. Your children are vulnerable to predators online”(Rendall pg1). So as you can see, web 2.0 is adding on to the list of things that are a hazard to us.

But not only are we exposing our teens to danger, but also feeding other evils. Take for example pedophilia, which is an adult’s sexual desire for a child. There have been recent news reports that as more young mothers appear, so do pictures of their naked young newborns on these social sites. Since people who suffer from pedophilia don’t have legal pornography websites to subscribe to, they go on to the next best thing. From there the “pedophilians” can copy and paste those pictures onto hidden “pedophilian” community websites for others to view for their pleasure. And so creating an active community for them to not just share these photos, but also to share information on places or people to meet in order to take part in these illegal activities. By creating an active community we are allowing them to grow and expand to and with others, thus letting the little danger that they pose now, to manifest until we have enough victims to do something about it. Once again showing how Web 2.0 is and will become a bigger problem.

Now aside from the lack of privacy we have given ourselves and the dangers that Web 2.0 has unleashed upon humanity, it also seems to be leading us away from having intellectual conversations. In every forum, blog, or every other type of website where you can post your opinion there is insulting vulgar language. No matter for what topic you are looking for opinions on, whether as controversial as abortion or simply what concert to go see you will get these people who post things like “(THIS BAND) . SUCKS B*!!$, go WATCH .(this other band) .THEY ROCK”. But it’s not only a couple of bad apples that are doing this, but pages upon pages of users who log on to post similar comments. Now the language used isn’t too bothersome, what is troubling is that the content within these comments offer no validity towards their argument. They offer no statistics or any rational as to which is better or for what reasons or why they believe what they stating is true. Thus eventually leading us to become a society of loud obnoxious brutes who will prove ours points true by seeing who can state it louder.

Nevertheless, Web 2.0 has done well for the masses. For example, it has reunited old friends, and brought the national spotlight upon small stories from the communities. In fact, Angela Flores, a 19 year-old sophomore from CSUN benefitted from Web 2.0 being centered on us. She had strayed away from social networking sites for most of her life in fear of all the drama that it had brought upon the friends around her. Until just recently, she was coaxed into opening a Facebook account. With a couple of months of messaging and adding some friends from her old schools and her new friends from CSUN, she was able to find a dear childhood friend. They had both been a couple of days apart to two mothers whom, at the time, where best friends. Due the close friendship the two mothers shared, the two babies grew up together and both grew very attached to each other. Their friendship lasted until the eighth grade, when their mothers got into a dispute over something private and abruptly parted ways. Due to the quickness in which the previous events happened, the two friends had to continue on their separate ways without having the chance to say good-bye, or to continue the friendship that they had. But now thanks to Web 2.0, they have found each other and are working hard to re-establish the trust and care that they once had. And yet, how many of these Web 2.0 success stories have you heard of? Definitely not more than the stories of how web 2.0 helped a sexual predator lure a teen into their household and onto who knows what kind of pain, or how it helped a computer hacker get enough bank information from some one else’s account to take a nice vacation with all expenses paid. And as a result showing that web 2.0 does more damage to our society, than it does to help it.

In conclusion, William’s article states that Web 2.0 is only helping us to close our minds, and enclose ourselves within our personally held beliefs and thoughts. While Johnson claims that it being centered on humanity has led to many small stories or priorities to appear on the bigger stages and thus allowing it to expand its horizon’s. But as previously noted, thanks to the marketing companies who place ads on our favorite websites this blinding us game works out fine. And although Web 2.0 has allowed people to find each other across great distances, it is and will continue to do more harm to us than we expect.

Web 2.0 is becoming an ever more dangerous place to be. Not only is it causing physical harm to minors and ideological harm to adults, but also leaving many victims of identity theft out in the streets. At this rate web 2.0 will become the new frontline in the fight against crime. But criminals aren’t the only ones that will run freely, but also misinformation. People will continue to blog about things that should stay top secret, and others will continue to post rude comments that will go ignored. And due to these and along with other reasons, web 2.0 will reach a point where everyone will begin to use the library in order to get legitimate information. For it to fulfill its purpose of helping our everyday life by making everyday tasks easier, web 2.0 needs to find a away to filter out these rude comments, fish out online criminals and have advertisements or suggestions for further investigation about our topics at hand. But until then our only safe bet is to use web 2.0 sparingly.

Works Cited

Johnson, Steven. ”It’s All About Us”. Signs Of Life in the U.S.A:Readings on the Popular

Culture For Writers. Ed. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 446-48. Print.

Milne, George R., Andrew Rohm, and Shalini Bahl "IF IT'S LEGAL, IS IT

ACCEPTABLE?." Journal of Advertising 38.4 (2009): 107-122. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2009.

Rendall, Steve "The Online Predator Scare." Extra! 22.4 (2009): 13-14.

Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2009.

Williams, Brian. “Enough About You”. Signs Of Life in the U.S.A:Readings on the

Popular Culture For Writers. Ed. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 449-50. Print.