Spirituality in Cybercrime (Yahoo Yahoo) Activities among Youths in South West Nigeria

This chapter explores the relevance and adoption of spirituality in cybercrime; the roles of spiritualists; experiences of self-confessed youths that are involved in ‘yahoo yahoo’ activities and the future intentions of youths to engage in cybercrime. This was with a view to providing a socio-cultural analysis of the influence of spirituality in cybercrime (‘yahoo yahoo’) activities among Nigerian youths. Vignette based focus group discussions were held with male and female youths (18-35 years), in-depth interviews with ‘yahoo yahoo’ youths and some spiritualists. Findings showed that spirituality attracts high cultural relevance in life achievements and the conduct of cybercrimes. Perceptions on youths’ involvement in cybercrime activities attracted mixed reactions. To the ‘Yahoo yahoo’ youths, they are playing a game, to other participants; ‘yahoo yahoo’ was a criminal act. Cybercrime among the youths have received the support of some spiritualists within a political economy that creates an enabling environment for cybercrimes and related activities. A few participants indicated future interests in cybercrime if their economic conditions remain unchanged or worsen. In conclusion, we argued that a holistic approach grounded in the cultural system would be more effective in re-orientating and empowering the youths to positively utilizes their internet skills. Thus, curbing cybercrimes would require a process that would not rely exclusively on legal and policing frameworks.

Young People and Online Risk

The authors suspect that the young perspective has been left out when online risk and safety are discussed in contemporary research. The aim of this chapter is to give a critical approach to this matter and question fear as a driving force for protecting young people online. Interviews with children about their views of internet use (Dunkels, 2007) and a study of safe use guides from European countries conducted in 2008 (Lüders et al, 2009) form the empirical base. The discussion in the chapter is underpinned by ideas of childhood as a social construction, emerging ideas of power relations pertaining to age and theories of technology reception. The authors also introduce a metaphor, the layer cake, to better understand how the same action can be viewed from different vantage points.

Young People, Sexual Content and Solicitation Online

Young people can potentially be exposed to sexual material from a variety of sources, both accidentally and purposefully. One such source, the internet, plays host to a vast array of information and imagery, among which sexually explicit material and pornography are in high concentration. Indeed within this virtual catalogue of material it is possible to find both adult and child pornography, particularly if one is aware of the correct methods of accessing such content. This chapter provides an in-depth overview of current knowledge regarding young people’s exposure to and experiences of sexual material and sexual predators online, including those particular aspects of young people’s online interactions that make them vulnerable to receive unwanted sexual material and solicitation. The authors then discuss the use of the Internet for the sexual exploitation of children and young people both in the nature of sexual material to which they are exposed to online including the transmission of images of child pornography and molestation, the processes by which young people access sexual material online, the solicitation of children by sexual predators in targeting young people and how young people in turn come to interact with sexual predators online. Finally they address current mechanisms designed to protect children and young people as they engage in online activities.

The Role of Internet Newsgroups in the Coming-Out Process of Gay Male Youth

The study examines internet newsgroups as a potential mitigating tool in the complex coming-out process of gay male youth. Employing a qualitative discourse analysis of the newsgroup’s messages, the chapter focuses on an Israeli newsgroup that appeals to GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) youth and operates within the most popular UGC (user-generated content) portal in Israel. The findings indicate that the researched newsgroup functions as a social arena that offers its participants an embracing milieu, where for the first time in their lives they are free of moral judgment of their sexuality. Through four distinct yet interrelated ways, the newsgroup helps its participants to cope with one of the most significant milestones in a gay person’s life – the coming-out process: (1) refuting prevalent stereotypes of homosexuality; (2) facilitating the acceptance of one’s sexual orientation; (3) prompting its disclosure; and (4) creating social relations within and outside the virtual environment.

The Representation of Female Friendships on Young Women’s Myspace Profiles

This chapter examines the representation of female friendship on MySpace, based on a sample of 45 public MySpace profiles owned by young Australian women, aged between 18 and 21 years old. Two prominent constructions of female friendship on this social network site are outlined: firstly, female friendships as idealistically party-oriented, ‘wild’, and rowdy; and secondly, female friendships as close, loyal, and intimate — comparable in the depth of feeling and connection expressed to romantic partnerships or family ties. These idealised, performative constructions of female friendship, in the context of online self-presentation, also seem to rely on exclusivity, and opposition of selves and friendship groups to a feminised outsider/‘other’. Some of the political implications of such representation are discussed from a feminist perspective. I suggest some ways in which ideals and goals of female representation to emerge from second-wave feminist media and performance critique might be said to have actualised and failed to actualise in these online performances of friendship and identity created by young women.

The Use of Interactive Media in Identity Construction by Female Undergraduates in a Nigerian University

The world has become a global village with the aid of the internet whose attributes and capabilities are constantly surpassing all other sources of information that existed before it. The internet facilitates accessibility and availability. Distance in communication has evaporated, making interpersonal and group communication across continents possible and easy. However, a more outstanding use is recorded in its interactive segment. These interactive media come in the forms such as Chat rooms, Facebook, and Email. The chapter examines the uses of the internet interactive media by a selected group of Nigerian female undergraduates in identity construction. Results show sample population prefer and use the facebook for internet interactions due to its affordances. The e-mail and chat room media followed closely in order of preference. The findings support the uses and gratification theory which holds that people manipulate the media for self gratification.

Youth and Online Social Networking

Often, young people do not have a voice in the public debate on internet safety and online social networking, but as this chapter will demonstrate that does not mean they do not have an opinion. Based on responses from 2400 Danish adolescents to an open-ended questionnaire, the authors discuss their accounts of good and bad experiences with social network sites. Furthermore, they analyse how youth (aged 12 to 18) position themselves as users of social network sites both in relation to very concrete and local experiences from their everyday life, and in relation to public media discourses. They discuss how they portray themselves as ‘responsible young people’ by distancing themselves from the public or “grown up” discourses represented by e.g. their parents or the news media.

Moving from Cyber-Bullying to Cyber-Kindness

The purpose of this chapter is to explore cyber-bullying from three different, but interrelated, perspectives: students, educators and parents. The authors also explore the opposite spectrum of online behaviour - that of “cyber-kindness” - and whether positive, supportive or caring online exchanges are occurring among youth, and how educators, parents and policy-makers can work collaboratively to foster a kinder online world rather than simply acting to curtail cyber-bullying. These proactive efforts tackle the deeper causes of why cyber-bullying occurs, provide students with tools for positive communication, open the door for discussion about longer term solutions, and get at the heart of the larger purposes of education – to foster a respectful and responsible citizenry and to further a more caring and compassionate society. In the course of this discussion, they highlight the findings from two studies they conducted in British Columbia, Canada, one on cyber-bullying and a later study, which addressed both cyber-bullying and cyber-kindness.

Adolescents and Online Dating Attitudes

The introduction of Internet technology worldwide has brought out different behaviors in human beings; old and young. One of the vehicles for this is the online dating social network; a means by which people meet other people with whom they enact social relationships through the internet. This chapter considers the attitudes of adolescents with African background in relation to online dating. The findings show that there is no significant difference in the attitudes of both male and female adolescents in relation to online dating and also that the perception of parents in relation to adolescents getting involved in online dating activities is in tandem with the African belief that adolescents are too young to get tangled in any aspect of sexual activities, online dating inclusive. It also reveals that both male and female adolescents have coping strategies for dealing with online dating activities. Solutions and recommendations to resolve the emanated issues are also highlighted.

Fat Talk

The purpose of this chapter is to study how young women in a Swedish context construct their body by writing about eating disorders in blogs. Connected to the body and eating disorders a construction of girlhood can be seen. The blogs studied are all part of the online community ungdomar.se. The chapter begins with a background to eating disorders, blogs and girlhood and youth in a cultural context. The main focus is on examples from thirteen blogs. The content and typographical emphasis in the blogs are analysed and discussed. The study shows that the process of becoming or constructing a certain body and blogging is both social and collective because of the interaction between the blogger, the community and blog commentators. The body is not only constructed by teenaged girls by striving to a certain type of a female body, but also by mastering the talk about one’s own body, dissatisfaction with it and by typographical emphasises in the blogs.