[Insight into digital media]
I am currently doing a module on Digital Media in Asia and in one of the classes, Prof. Michael Netzley mentioned that one major aspect that the young have to deal with is flaming. It is even more important that monitoring objectionable content.

Apart from controversial posts online, things such as letters to the forum pages can cause this. For example, in the early years of blogging, I had written a letter to the press to address the issue of expletives being used in blogs.

Within days of the letter, Ephraim Loy was probably searched on search engines many times. For days, I had received up to 500 comments and hits - many of which were vulgar. I had even received death threats. On hindside, I should not have written that letter but that lesson was a classic case of flaming.

This was also brought up by the Advisory Council for the Impact of New Media on Society. During a sharing, it was mentioned that the act of flaming is a reactionary measure for teens. They cannot debate properly, so they flame.

These days, there are various channels of communication - msn, Facebook, blogs and a host of other social media applications which I am experimenting with.

One important point that I had discovered at a discussion on New Media is that blogs allow people an outlet to express themselves and to fill a void. I also agree that anonymous blogs allow the sharing of things that are not socially accepted by society or viewed by society as deviant. This leads the reader into the bloggers' world. And that is where the interest sparks.