Reasons for Surfing the Internet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reasons for Surfing the Internet - Essay Example   For younger people, the Internet is very important in terms of the opportunities it creates to socialize. People can stay in contact with their friends, follow events in their friends’ and families’ lives, meet new friends and even join communities of similar people, with the same beliefs and ways of thinking (Finn, 2009, website). They also join social networking websites such as Facebook in order to remain current with their social groups. This is the first category of reasons for surfing the Internet according to this essay, but importantly, it does not only apply to younger people: socializing on the Internet also applies to all groups of people, no matter their age. Older people use Facebook and other more business-oriented networking sites such as LinkedIn to grow their connections to people in the same industries as theirs, or in the same social circles as theirs. Many families stay in touch via technology such as Skype, when they cannot physically be togethe r. They have conversations across the world and are able to see each other and communicate more effectively via the Internet. There are also very legitimate sites for people to meet each other for relationships, such as dating sites, or less specifically for emotional relationships, community forum sites, where people who have common characteristics can meet and share ideas in cyberspace. This category of people who use the Internet is therefore wide, and cuts across age, status and nationality groups in society.... They have conversations across the world, and are able to see each other and communicate more effectively via the Internet. There are also very legitimate sites for people to meet each other for relationships, such as dating sites, or less specifically for emotional relationships, community forum sites, where people who have common characteristics can meet and share ideas in cyberspace. This category of people who use the Internet is therefore wide, and cuts across age, status and nationality groups in society. While there is some danger for people in that they could meet sexual predators or con artists in this way, the Internet still provides a major source for many people of the need to socialize with others. A second category of reasons for Internet surfing is due to the amount of information that can be found on the World Wide Web. From students at schools and universities, to professional people and businesspeople, many people use the Internet to find the information that they n eed to do what they need to do. Very credible sources of academic knowledge are available on the Internet and more and more universities and schools are advising students to do research in this way. While some sources are not well-substantiated, many academic journals, the best magazines and newspapers, encyclopedias, and textbooks can all be sourced on the Internet. This method of research definitely saves time, and makes it possible for people to keep up to date with knowledge in their fields, complete academic courses and even find out how to repair their cars! Although not strictly Internet surfing, it is even possible for people to publish their research and writing on the World Wide Web. This group of

Crime Prevention, Disorder and Community Safety (Criminolgy) Essay

Crime Prevention, Disorder and Community Safety (Criminolgy) - Essay Example In reality, the term "fear of crime" is an artifact of a broad interest in what is presumed to be the psychological effect of crime. As a result, there is no clear rationale behind its use.† Researches indicate that people especially women fear crime more than men but they do not report it quite often so it can be concluded that the actual statistics of women victimization is higher than reported. Stanko (1992) observed that according to the surveys, males are more capable of being victimized than women despite of the fact that women show more insecure behavior. It is perceived that the fear is irrational and unrealistic. However it should be noted that crimes happened with women are not reported all the time as women are more sensitive to their social image than man thus less willing to report that they are being victimized. Young (1988: 174) wrote that: "Domestic crisis and sexual crimes are less likely to enter the statistics than property crimes, which leads to the systemat ic underestimation of crimes against women". It should also be considered that researches and surveys only consist of crimes happened in front of witnesses or road-crimes. Women are often victimized within the walls of their own homes and do not report to any one. Warr (1984, 1985) investigates that as women are scared more of sexual assault than men so the general fear gets mix with the fear of sexual assault and heighten their insecurity. He also suggested that women's fear of victimization should be differently analyzed than men as men rarely fears sexual assault. Keane (1995) suggested that women’s fear of crime consists of two fears basically i.e. concrete fear and formless fear. Concrete fears are the fears of some specific crimes while formless fear is general fear or fear that can not be associated with some specific crimes. This theory of Keane has an underlying assumption that some crimes are more fear inducing than others. For women sexual assault is more fear indu cing than any type of theft or property damages. As per Keane, women reported both types of fears whether concrete or formless but younger females reported more of a concrete fear than elderly ladies. It can be deduced that elder age feels more formless fear than younger. Elders are more sensitive and insecure in perceiving crimes and have less tolerance for it. According to the researches of Warr (1985) and Ferraro (1996), women perceive rape as much serious crime as a murder. After an extensive research work by Ferraro (1996), he concluded that elder women and younger women both report the highest level of fear however the basis of fear can be different entirely. The elder women are more sensitive about the risk of financial damage, risk of being injured or loss of life while younger women are more scared of sexual assault. The fear of younger women is mostly comprises of rape or harassment and is more dominant in them than any other fear. The main difference in the reasons of fea r is the fear of sexual assault. If this fear will be excluded from the fear of crime in women, the difference between male and female fears of being victimized will be reduced. Warr (1985) also reported that women who are below the age of 35 fear more of sexual assault. As per him, as the girls become older, their fear increases and as they become women and start to age the fear diminishes. However as per Kennedy and Silverman (1984), as they become more