There are many advantages and disadvantages of the new technology in this current day. Facebook, Myspace, and other websites on the Internet open a door to more access and new communication. Teens social life has been greatly impacted by the new "social-networking" movement. Most teenagers socialized less because they are forced to interact through a technological window. The relationships that people face now are often formed online. On the website for Psychology Today I found an article titled "Teens and the Sex Partners They Meet Online" by Michael Shelton.
The article is based on the increase of sexual relationships due to the growth of the Internet. There are many ideas surrounding what causes victims to fall prey to a predator. It is rarely thought that these victims go online to find sources of sex, money, and love from older (or the same age) men. This article focuses on an idea that allows more than one scientific principle to be used. To be more specific, that is correlation vs. causation and ruling out rival hypothesis. Readers and researchers can not be certain what, if anything, causes victims to link with offenders or what makes the offenders go out and find victims. We know that social networking has affected the sexually drive in teenagers, but we don't know the definite reason why.
In conclusion, the new world of technology has given us many great things, but it unleashes many bad things too. Curious girls go online searching for answers and creepy men find the girls. The age difference and naive sense from the girls is just the beginning of how sexual relationships are formed online. Most of the research that has been done goes after how these resources give more access. I believe we should be researching that thoughts of victims, as well as offenders. For example, the reason that the show "Dateline: To Catch A Predator" is very liked by the population is because at the end Chris Hanson sits down and questions the online predator to fully understand what exactly they were thinking. Eventually we will understand what pushes both sides to one another and be able to prevent it.
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