ORKUT, FACEBOOK, ZORPIA, BIGADDA, and many more are the social networking sites who are making the mark all around the world. The statement they are making is both exciting and alarming. But as they say, the coin has two sides and one should be ready to see the flip side too. Same case is here with these social networking sites. Making strangers as friends is something which has taken a bigger picture in these past few years. People have faced some dangerous look of it too, as STRANGERS ARE DANGEROUS, but the caravan is still carrying on. Keeping in mind the privacy settings for an individual, these sites are trying different methods to provide privacy to many things. And everyone is claiming to be the best in the business. But before going in deep about the public affection these sites are getting, let us get in the history, from where the term called “NET CHATTING” began.
INSTANT MESSAGING is something which began the revolution in the world of internet messaging. 1960, it all began for the internet users. People began to share their thoughts not publically but with the specific person they wanted to. It was so private that no one else that them knew the subject of their discussion. The effeminate of it being a real time operation, it suddenly became popular among the users. Very quickly the e-mails became formal way of sharing ideas or piece of information and INSTANT MESSAGING the informal way of doing it. The AOL (America Online) was the first one to launch this service. Then came the idea of making some friends outside the existing friend circle and it gave birth to the chat rooms, where people from all round the globe began to interact with each other. MRQ, MICROSOFT, YAHOO and GOOGLE all these software giants launched their own IM services and with growing age and use of internet more people got drawn to this astonishing and attractive world of global friendship. The PEN FRIENDS changed to NET FRIENDS. People began sharing their ideas, apart from some information, their personal and professional life with someone they never knew. The addiction of CHATTING was influencing everyone. The fever was catching pretty fast.
But as I said, one should be ready to face the flip side of anything that evolves. People started to discover the darker side of it. People started to share the things which they couldn’t share with anyone. Be it a youth talking about his sexual urge to some female on net or be it any married person catching up with his sexuality with a male/female. Or be it a spoil brat complaining about his family and life to someone else, or be it a pessimist trying to gain all the sympathy from the opposite person. These things started to take a very ugly face when people began to meet personally and tried to ditch them either financially or emotionally. Both types of blackmailing began to cover the whole IM world with black cloud. Females began to cheat males and tried to fraud money with males trying to physically molest the females irrespective of age. Several cases popped up and brought the darker side to the front pages of the world news.
But still people continued with their work of exploring people on net globally. Rare cases produced nil result in denting the confidence of people regarding meeting a stranger. Only thing that changed was the mindset, people became a bit skeptical in accepting any chat request but they didn’t stop. The fear was there but the glamour world of internet chatting was not eliminated from the mind. To make things more frenzy, SOCIAL NETWROKING SITES came into existence. Message anyone you like and develop your SOCIAL circle. This was the tag line of these sites. They weren’t talking about the friend circle but the social circle. The idea was new and innovative and it kicked with huge amount of spark. But again the flip side was the loop hole with these sites too. The messages were public, there wasn’t any restriction on the person messaging, and the images weren’t safe. All these loop holes started to take a very bad turn. SEX, PORN and VULGAR are the communities which are there is society but in a very recessive way but they do have an impact on our life. It showed its effect on these sites too. Some morons started to publically defame few people because of their own enmity or trying to make fun of by getting unethical about things.
Obviously the makers of these sites were aware of these things and they started to give users more privacy, making life easy for them. The security concerns if not eradicated, were made pretty secured. People began to find very useful information on these sites, find a way to get solution for many things. Sharing of ideas was made more useful and the group or say community dynamics was involved. Society became a little more matured and people began to think with more responsibility and the desperados were pushed to a corner and intellect became the center stage. People began to know the difference between a FRIEND CIRCLE and a SOCIAL CIRLCE. Youth gained lots of vital information about career and how to go about their life. These sites gave a platform to discuss about each and every topic, political, professional, sports, personal, literature, science, music, business, education and all the global topics. There is no denying the fact that the communities, specially made to give information about the each of the above topics has helped the society. It has set a beautiful platform where the society can learn from the intellect within it. The mirror was held by society and it was the image too.
I am sure if the society acts in a matured way then we can learn from the intellect within our circle. Few unacceptable things do happen but we only have to take care of it and take the initiative to be as clean as possible in our thoughts. The case of khusboo should never be a idol for the users of these sites. And I am sure the future ahead for these sites are in our hands. We shouldn’t spoil the future of this technological gift but should make full use of it for our own advantage.
INSTANT MESSAGING is something which began the revolution in the world of internet messaging. 1960, it all began for the internet users. People began to share their thoughts not publically but with the specific person they wanted to. It was so private that no one else that them knew the subject of their discussion. The effeminate of it being a real time operation, it suddenly became popular among the users. Very quickly the e-mails became formal way of sharing ideas or piece of information and INSTANT MESSAGING the informal way of doing it. The AOL (America Online) was the first one to launch this service. Then came the idea of making some friends outside the existing friend circle and it gave birth to the chat rooms, where people from all round the globe began to interact with each other. MRQ, MICROSOFT, YAHOO and GOOGLE all these software giants launched their own IM services and with growing age and use of internet more people got drawn to this astonishing and attractive world of global friendship. The PEN FRIENDS changed to NET FRIENDS. People began sharing their ideas, apart from some information, their personal and professional life with someone they never knew. The addiction of CHATTING was influencing everyone. The fever was catching pretty fast.
But as I said, one should be ready to face the flip side of anything that evolves. People started to discover the darker side of it. People started to share the things which they couldn’t share with anyone. Be it a youth talking about his sexual urge to some female on net or be it any married person catching up with his sexuality with a male/female. Or be it a spoil brat complaining about his family and life to someone else, or be it a pessimist trying to gain all the sympathy from the opposite person. These things started to take a very ugly face when people began to meet personally and tried to ditch them either financially or emotionally. Both types of blackmailing began to cover the whole IM world with black cloud. Females began to cheat males and tried to fraud money with males trying to physically molest the females irrespective of age. Several cases popped up and brought the darker side to the front pages of the world news.
But still people continued with their work of exploring people on net globally. Rare cases produced nil result in denting the confidence of people regarding meeting a stranger. Only thing that changed was the mindset, people became a bit skeptical in accepting any chat request but they didn’t stop. The fear was there but the glamour world of internet chatting was not eliminated from the mind. To make things more frenzy, SOCIAL NETWROKING SITES came into existence. Message anyone you like and develop your SOCIAL circle. This was the tag line of these sites. They weren’t talking about the friend circle but the social circle. The idea was new and innovative and it kicked with huge amount of spark. But again the flip side was the loop hole with these sites too. The messages were public, there wasn’t any restriction on the person messaging, and the images weren’t safe. All these loop holes started to take a very bad turn. SEX, PORN and VULGAR are the communities which are there is society but in a very recessive way but they do have an impact on our life. It showed its effect on these sites too. Some morons started to publically defame few people because of their own enmity or trying to make fun of by getting unethical about things.
Obviously the makers of these sites were aware of these things and they started to give users more privacy, making life easy for them. The security concerns if not eradicated, were made pretty secured. People began to find very useful information on these sites, find a way to get solution for many things. Sharing of ideas was made more useful and the group or say community dynamics was involved. Society became a little more matured and people began to think with more responsibility and the desperados were pushed to a corner and intellect became the center stage. People began to know the difference between a FRIEND CIRCLE and a SOCIAL CIRLCE. Youth gained lots of vital information about career and how to go about their life. These sites gave a platform to discuss about each and every topic, political, professional, sports, personal, literature, science, music, business, education and all the global topics. There is no denying the fact that the communities, specially made to give information about the each of the above topics has helped the society. It has set a beautiful platform where the society can learn from the intellect within it. The mirror was held by society and it was the image too.
I am sure if the society acts in a matured way then we can learn from the intellect within our circle. Few unacceptable things do happen but we only have to take care of it and take the initiative to be as clean as possible in our thoughts. The case of khusboo should never be a idol for the users of these sites. And I am sure the future ahead for these sites are in our hands. We shouldn’t spoil the future of this technological gift but should make full use of it for our own advantage.
-AMRIT SAGAR -
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