Article Reflection No. 1 (4/8/2022)

Article #1: Did You Receive a Text Message From Yourself? You’re Not Alone.

Reflection:

In the 20th century, safer outside environments prompted parents’ leniency, allowing children to run loose in National Parks and stray the outdoors without any supervisors—until they were called back for dinner. In contrast, young people today have quickly plunged into depths of technological innovations, including social media platforms, video games, and e-books. With these innovations came a sharper, enhanced perception of computerized scams, and with this awareness came new methods hackers used to trick victims.

Reading the article “Did You Receive a Text Message From Yourself? You’re Not Alone.” by Brian X. Chen surprised me greatly, bringing a chilling sensation to my stomach. Hackers manipulating victims by tricking them into thinking that they are texting themselves is an unbelievably cruel, inhumane action. Especially for those who suffer from conditions pertaining to memory loss, getting deceived in this manner would likely lead to self-condemnation (why didn’t I remember?) and definitely not joy.

Clearly, I am strongly averse to hacking and its deceitful tactics. For this reason, I was relieved when I read that Verizon had fixed this issue. I knew, however, that this meant the hackers were going to weave plans to loophole through obstacles, as they most likely have before.