The end is nigh for ‘The Guide to Popular Apps’ – Social Issues

This is my last required blog for my technical writing module so I wanted to blog about Something that I have learned from my research about the apps I’ve wrote about. I chose to write about the effects Apps have had upon the modern teenager because it has become a serious issue as of late. I’ve noticed that many social issues have been raised because of apps. Such as;

• • Cyber-bullying
• • Sharing of pornographic content
• • Illegal downloading, piracy
• • Censorship
• • Glamorising Underage drinking and Drug abuse
• • The promotion of violence and crime

And these are just to name a few. From going through the apps I have sampled such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Flappy Bird all of these have been noticed in one way or another. Even though, these apps have attempted to censor unethical content a lot still manages to be uploaded.

 
Most days you see either provocative selfies, statuses about underage drinking, drug use or nasty comments being made about people or all at once. Communication apps in particular, such as Facebook, Instagram, Ask.fm or Twitter are the biggest enablers of social issues that I’ve noticed.

 
During my lectures I learned all about copyright, ethics, netiquette, and other similar topics in relation to the internet. All of these social issues are there because these rules or codes of conduct have been disregarded by some people. It is easier to break these laws because it is not being physically done only virtually.

 
Even though many of these apps have strict codes of conduct and privacy settings it has not seemed to affect the apparent power of the internet. There always seems to be a loophole found. Apps have enabled for social issues to become glamorized through an easier access to media influences. Many ways in which this is seen is through are;

• • Memes or vines have been made about how it is ‘cool’ to have underage sex, binge drink or take drugs or part-take in racist behaviour which are shared through social media.
• • Torrent files of illegally downloaded movies are shared easier within these apps.
• • Cyber-bullying and cyber stalking (the repeated use of electronic communications to harass or frighten someone, for example by sending threatening emails.) have become serious issues within the media as of late. Most popular stories would be related to Ask.fm or Twitter.
• • Censorship is now not a large concern. Social media users are encouraged to share every thought or event in their lives without any regard towards others feelings. There is a blur between the concept of free speech and censorship nowadays.
• • Snapchat as previously mentioned in my last blog post has enabled the sharing of pornographic content. Other communication apps such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have also enabled this.

Snapchat and its dangers.

Snapchat Logo
Source: http://www.blackpressusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/snapchat.jpg

I honestly can’t believe I haven’t made a blog post on Snapchat before. What a phenomenon! It has completely changed how people interact with each other.

Snapchat is basically a photo messaging app. Users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a list of contacts that you have added. These sent photographs and videos are known as “Snaps”. You are able to set a time limit for how long recipients can view your snaps. They last about 1 to 10 seconds after which they will be hidden from the recipient’s device and deleted from Snapchats servers forever unless they are screen shotted.

Snapchat enables users to send countless pictures of anything they want. There is now no more need to give a long winded explanation of that new top, dress, what you are doing, watching, eating, drinking. It’s simple – just send a snap!

Snapchat Idea
Source: Tumblr

 While Snapchat has mostly had positive effects it is known for promoting such trends as sexting. Sexting involves the exchange of explicit images that often contain some degree of nudity. Thus as a result, it has led to the sharing of pornographic material of adults as well as children with or without consent between minors.

Pre-teens by which I mean 12-16 year olds and people my own age will send ‘’nude selfies’’ to others which facilitates underage sexual activity. Also the ability for users to screenshot a snap has violated the terms of service of the material being forever deleted. A screenshot is an image taken by the mobile device user to record or take a picture of the visible items displayed on the screen.

Daily Mail Article; iPhone’s new app Snapchat which destroys photos after a few seconds is promoting sexting among teens by James Nye

This isn’t a very popular practice though according to the media. Snapchat has led to information being over shared but doesn’t every other communication app? It’s all an information overload in the end. It’s as if this technological era has removed the concept of privacy or censorship. And as the saying goes;

Knowledge isn’t power.