Oatis Final Thoughts

Well folks, this semester sure has flown by!! We have talked about numerous topics, problems, and solutions all in regards to computer-mediated communication. We talked a lot about the dark side of communication and problems associated with the Internet including but not limited to, child pornography, identity theft, emotionally damaging “support” forums. However, we have not talked very much about how to defend and protect yourself from all of the above evils. I am one of the early generations to be considered digital natives. While we have grown up with the dark side digital communication, in many respects we take its defense for granted.

            The Internet is both a wonderful and terrible too. While it can be used for tremendous good and positive outcomes, there are also those who use it to produce negative outcomes. People steal identities, commit fraud, troll, flame and other such shenanigans. Out of the above, some are quite easy to avoid and some are not. However there are things that we can do as college students and young professionals to mitigate the risks of Internet usage. There are numerous companies that offer virus protection such as McAfee Security or TrendMicro to name a few. Additionally, there are several other companies that offer fraud protection, companies such as LifeLock. Now I’m sure most of us are thinking that we are in college and “it won’t happen to us” but these are the years where our credit history is only just being established. Critical mistakes now can drastically alter our future financial stability. Even every day habits such as varying your password usage and even more so, creating strong passwords can and will make the difference shouldn’t attempt to be made against your information. Naturally, nobody wants to remember 50 million passwords for each and every app that they use. How many of us just have one master password for everything?

            Many of us that are growing up as digital natives, are quick to use the same password for multiple websites or applications, however this is one of the single most dangerous things that can be done and computer security. Once that one password is compromised, nothing stands in the way of the rest of your accounts. While I know I am straying away from typical blog posting, I think it’s very important that as young adults and young professionals we understand the gravity of such simple mistakes. As digital natives, we are subscribing and have more accounts, email addresses, and passwords than ever before. Significant portions of which have phone by the wayside and have been in active for months or even years. When was the last time you checked your MySpace? I hope in the future that there are additions made onto the course about cyber security and how college age students can protect themselves. While it may not be directly related to computer-mediated communication, I still believe that is a very valuable topic and is worth a few minutes of lecture time!