task 3: moral panics and concerns with online technology

Increasingly in the past 5 years or so, there has been a rapid change in the way we use the internet. It has become more open and interactive, with access to nearly anything we want at the touch of a button. The younger generation have become 'media-savvy', and often people who should by rights moderate what they can view i.e, parents and teachers, are oblivious to what young people have access to and are often powerless to stop it despite their best efforts. A lax in internet browsing security has led to a generation who have developed views that could be unhealthy in the mind of others. Young people can freely access pornography, misleading information about drugs and weapons, and excessive violence which could numb them to the dangers of the world. Young people can be engaged in an uncensored and potentially environment form the comfort of their own bedroom due to communities such as myspace, and MMORPG games such as second life. This in particular has the potential to access a whole adult underworld, the 'red light district' and everything that this brings.