Social networking. Posting pictures. Catching up with friends. Staying in touch with relatives. In other words… Facebook. Like anything else, it has pros and cons. However, do the cons outweigh the pros? For a freshman, who wishes to remain anonymous, he said that they do.

“I had someone make a fake profile of me, and they completely made me look like an idiot,” he said. “The only thing I would say is this: no profile, page or blog is private on the Internet.”

There is also the issue of hacking into other students’ Facebook accounts. In fact, when scrolling down her news feed, senior Jennifer Cardenas sees that it has actually become kind of a joke. “You see a bunch of statuses saying things like ‘your best friend hacked you. LOL’ and things like that. It’s a game to a lot of students.”

However, hackers are not solely to blame. Possibly too trusting, some students give their Facebook account password to friends. “They put themselves in that situation. If they just kept their Facebook secure, everything would be fine,” Cardenas said.

If there are so many dangers to social media, the common question is, why do people continue to use it?

According to a survey by Pew Research, to-thirds of social media users say that staying in touch with friends and family is the major reason. However, is it really?

In August 2011, according to comscore.com, 72.2 million Americans access social sites and blogs from their mobile phones, a 37 percent increase from just a year ago.

An article on smartonline.com stated that 54% of mobile phone sales were smartphones.

As social media becomes more readily available, the risk becomes greater. But that doesn’t mean one can’t overcome this risk.

Senior Laura Flanary hasn’t been hacked, impersonated, or harassed, but she has seen her friends get into trouble online and chooses to take extra precautions.

“I hate seeing people get themselves into trouble when it’s so easily avoidable,” she said. “It really isn’t difficult at all to be safe on the Internet. There is always the option of ‘un-friending’ and/or blocking people on sites. People need to take advantage of these choices.”

The anonymous freshman admits to have been foolish in that respect. “I should have just immediately avoided all contact with the people that were harassing me in the first place. I just didn’t think it would progress as far as it did,” he said.

To a lot of teens, staying safe online doesn’t prove to be very difficult. That is, until it is them. “I would call my friends names for being so careless with their accounts and what happened to me?” The freshman slaps himself in the head playfully. “I guess we just don’t ever think it’s going to happen to us, but nobody is safe.”

Flanary said that the key to Internet safety is simply having common sense.

“I know there are a lot of odd people and perverts online. I know there are dangers to social