Everyday I am more surprised about how the Internet is highly influencing people’s lives. From receiving to sharing information, from falling in love to finding a life partner, the Internet is now a big part of our daily existence.
Today a person has the opportunity to have a real life or perhaps a cyber life.
One of the most interesting websites I have ever seen is secondlife.com. In this site a person and/or corporation has the opportunity to create a “new life” in the virtual world. There are several communities, and a company, a TV Show or a product represent each of them.
The new member has to join a community that relates to his/her interests. If you are interested in traveling, join “STA Travel Island”, if you are a TV curious get involved in “Virtual CSI NY” or if you are a business minded person join “Orientation Station.”
On this site, each person has the opportunity to create a completely new identity, different from the one in real life.
The first step is to choose a name and a last name. That’s all!
The Internet is affecting individuals’ lives at many levels.
A few weeks ago, I heard from one of my elementary school friends in Facebook.com. I hadn’t spoken to her in almost 14 years. She found me through another friend’s profile. This made me think about how years ago we didn’t even have cell phones to communicate with one another. Today, all our information is out there for personal interest or commercial purposes.
In this 21st century, given the circumstances, we even have the possibility to become reporters of the web. Web sites such as ireport.com, youtube.com, and ourmedia.org make all of us involved in a community or in citizen journalism.
We all have in front of us the medium to share “news” with anybody around the globe. Photos, videos and information come and go, but the question that remains is: Is this safe?
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