ABSTRACT
This chapter explores two central fears surrounding new media: first, that cyberbullying can push people to commit suicide, and second, that online predators routinely use the Internet to lure kidnapping or sexual abuse victims or both. By comparing the headlines to data on these problems, the chapter explains that although new communication technologies have become much bigger parts of many people's lives, the problems they are often associated with are in fact not getting worse. The stories may be shocking and familiar, and although powerful examples, they are not necessarily representative of a larger trend of increased danger to young people. In fact, the chapter more concerns about people who lack access to the new modes of communication and the implications for them both socially and economically. Tragic examples of young people who were bullied and later committed suicide might frighten the people into thinking that a new trend of youth suicide coincides with the rise of social networking.
