Digital issues

More than 2.2 billion people worldwide are active on social media—a full 30 percent of the global population. In this book readers will learn how Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and other social media, have become an integral part of people’s lives, affecting their attitudes, relationships, mental health—and personal safety.

With everyone online and everything being connected to an "Internet of Things" new applications bring new vulnerabilities. Current and emerging security threats are discussed, along with what technologists, policy makers, and ordinary citizens are doing to make the digital world safer and more secure.

As much as most people value their privacy, the amount of information they share freely on social media is astounding. While this sharing may help create communities, security experts say it also destroys privacy. This book will discuss the scope of the growing privacy problem, potential consequences of (3z(Boversharing,(3y (Band efforts to address it.

Digital technologies that utilize the Internet have made communicating and finding information fast and simple, but this very convenience has also made it easy for online predators to target and prey on Internet users. Various types of online sexual, financial, identity theft, and cyberbullying predators, along with the methods they employ, the effects on their victims, efforts to contain these illegal activities, and associated controversies are discussed.

People are finding innumerable ways to entertain themselves online. Many of these options are enjoyable and even rewarding but concerns about violence, addiction, and isolation also exist.

Reliance on digital technology becomes a problem when a pleasurable, relatively harmless and even beneficial activity turns into an addictive behavior. The scope of this growing problem, the causes, the consequences, and efforts to address it are discussed.