MySpace and Facebook Essay

I think that stalking is possibly one of the scariest forms of abuse there is. Both men and women are capable of stalking but I think that in most cases it is a male stalking a female. There are many reasons why one person stalks another. I believe the most common reason is because of anger and humiliation. When one person breaks off a relationship with another it often causes conflicting feelings which may turn a person into a desperate stalker. I believe that the longer and more intimate a relationship was the higher chance for stalking and dangerous behavior. I think another big reason why a person will turn into a stalker is because they simply cannot accept that their former partner has moved on and is dating other people. I agree that cyber stalking has become a problem and I think cyber stalking will continue to increase since so many people use computers. The case of the 13 year old girl who committed suicide because of cyber stalking is sad and shocking. I know from experience that teenagers can be quite cruel to one another but this young girl experienced extreme bullying by an adult who should have known better. I strongly believe that the ultimate responsibility for the safety of children on the computer falls to the parents. Parents are responsible for ensuring the safety of their children at all times – including who they talk to and what sites they visit on the internet. In this case it was the parent doing the harassing and terrorizing which is what makes this case so nauseating. Social sites such as MySpace and Facebook make it very easy for teenagers to form cyber relationships with one another. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as parents supervise and children behave appropriately. However, I think cyber stalking is going to continue to increase since so many teenagers use these types of sites and their parents have no idea who they talk to or what they talk about. I think the case of the 13 year old girl who killed herself should open the eyes of parents so that they can prevent something tragic like this from happening again.