blogs + kids

[ittakessome]

i know a lot of people have blogs/livejournals/myspace. and a lot of children have them too.

what do you guys think?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9646779/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7668788/


they both are about myspace basically. that site has turned into such a breeding ground for sex offenders. the policy is 16+ but like the second article said "almost all of her 8th-grade classmates at George Washington Middle School in suburban Ridgewood, N.J. had pages on MySpace."

i think parents need to start being more involved in what they're kids do. and i think kids need to be taught the dangers of posting online. (i have even seen teens posting scans of their drivers licenses with nothing blacked out.)

kids are just too dumb and trust too easily to be part of these kinds of websites.

any thoughts?

[Lone_Raider]

Hell, I'm 23 and I wouldn't create a My Space account. Anyone on earth can look at that thing! Lunatics, bill collectors, spammers, whoever, can find you on there and get a bunch of information about you.

[Kuky]

Kids aren't as dumb as they are misinformed. I think the solution to this is a "teach a man to fish..." kind of situation. That is, "paranoidly watch over a kid's shoulder, and you'll have saved him from rapists for a day... Teach him how to take care of himself, and you'll have done him a world of good."

I think parents should sit down with their kids and explain to them calmly that they need to be careful, and make sure they're aware of what's going on. Something tells me that the kids that are the most at risk are those whose parents keep them in a bubble. You know, the "You're not allowed to date until you're 43" type bubble. The more they tighten their grip, the more starsystems... er... their children... will slip through their fingers :).

It's not about paranoid control. Some parents will do silly things like install parental control software (or join stupid AOL), and think that's a good replacement for parenting. It's not, though. Not only does parental control software not filter out blog submits, but it sure doesn't make the kids more informed. In fact, if anything, it'll make them more likely to rebel. Not only that, but they'll feel more of a need to reach out and trust random crazies.

So yeah, I might have trailed, but I think it's a matter of education. Parents should talk to their kids about it, and schools should maybe mention it to them too, perhaps (cause elementary and high school level computer classes aren't exactly used efficiently).

[Bath of Glitter]

It's also a breeding ground for superficiality and stupidity.

[Gezus]

I agree, just talk to kids about it. I hate these parents who don't actually explain to their kids where babies come from to "protect" them... And then they get pissed at me for explaining the basics to their kids. Not all kids are dumb, just that the ones who go onto My Space are mostly dumb, the others just don't care, or at least won't scan their driver's license.

[Wolf]

People need to watch their kids, but more importantly, teach them not to be stupid.

BEFORE a child uses the internet on their own, the parents need to seriously educate them on the dangers of the internet.

Rules:
1) Don't trust anybody. Ever.
2) DON'T TRUST ANYBODY.
3) Don't post anything that identifies you. No name, address, phone number.
3) Don't post any pictures of yourself.

Those rules ought to be followed by everyone until they're mature enough to have good judgement. Unfortunately, many adults lack said judgement.

And those rules ought to have strict punishment. i.e. break the rules once: Lose the internet for a month, a second time, a year. That's how much I'd be enforcing it, and yeah, I'd be logging everything that goes on. Your kids are gonna hate you anyways, might as well make sure they're safe from interweb rapists.

[Bath of Glitter]

Lambast them. It's the only tried and true form of punishment.

[BabyDiva]

A bunch of my students are on myspace. A few teachers are too.

I think it's a fad that will hopefully change soon. It's disturbing. They try to outdo each other with outrageous things online. It turns into an internet sex-fest for the eyes. And all those kids are underage. It's just a "fun thing" that they do with their friends...but EVERYONE can see it.

I find it disturbing that they can be found and possibly abducted with info on the website. Scares me for them. Those kids are my kids...I feel responsible for them, even though they aren't my legal responsibility.


I don't like 'em at all.

[IGemini]

I made it a personal policy not to get into MySpace. It's too cliquey and too public. Both of those are a dangerous combination. Not to mention there are people using it that I don't want to get involved with from my old history.

[dtbmnec]

I do have a myspace account....I believe there's a total of one and only one post on it and it was something about the crap that had gone on that day.....its also like 3 months old...O.o

I haven't the will to consistently update it so I haven't bothered.....and there's no oh so happy personal information on it either.....*Megan for the win!*

Megan

[Shocka]

Here's what I don't get - parents not taking an active interest in what their kids do. I mean, sure, as children and teenagers we cut our parents off from stuff, but much of the time our parents don't take an interest in what we do, and that's the problem. "Out of sight, out of mind" - why don't parents casually monitor and check out the sites that their kids do, use it to interact? Ok, sure, we wouldn't want our parents finding out that we're seeking blowjob advice here, nor the obscene amount of pornography we enjoy, but why not surf together? Same with TV and music and all the other entertainment stuff - talk to their kids, converse with them, actually take an interest rather than, well, not. Surely that would be the solution to this kind of thing?

[Wolf]

Here's what I don't get - parents not taking an active interest in what their kids do. I mean, sure, as children and teenagers we cut our parents off from stuff, but much of the time our parents don't take an interest in what we do, and that's the problem. "Out of sight, out of mind" - why don't parents casually monitor and check out the sites that their kids do, use it to interact? Ok, sure, we wouldn't want our parents finding out that we're seeking blowjob advice here, nor the obscene amount of pornography we enjoy, but why not surf together? Same with TV and music and all the other entertainment stuff - talk to their kids, converse with them, actually take an interest rather than, well, not. Surely that would be the solution to this kind of thing?


For the lazy but technically inclined parents: Log everything, and just periodically search the logs for key phrases, like your street name, phone number, your child's full name, etc.

[Bath of Glitter]

This profile (http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=8026469&Mytoken=20050512102811) should strike fear in everyone.

"Son, this is what you will become."

[goofball]

A bunch of my students are on myspace. A few teachers are too.

I think it's a fad that will hopefully change soon. It's disturbing. They try to outdo each other with outrageous things online. It turns into an internet sex-fest for the eyes. And all those kids are underage. It's just a "fun thing" that they do with their friends...but EVERYONE can see it.

I find it disturbing that they can be found and possibly abducted with info on the website. Scares me for them. Those kids are my kids...I feel responsible for them, even though they aren't my legal responsibility.


I don't like 'em at all.


This kind of thing is worthless without a link or two ;)

[water nymph]

I know that my sister is more technically savy than I am, but I also know that she, thus far, doesn't cover her tracks very well so I just idly check on her. I know my mum wouldn't know how.

I think that parents need to keep an eye on children but there is only so much they can do. Kids are growing up way too fast (example, eigth graders with thongs! were did they buy them, limited too?) and in that process they are going to be more rebellious no matter what parents do. If parents could build closer relationships with teh kids it might work out better but as it stands I can't see that happening, so many parents are just too lazy and too busy.

[Burro]

This profile (http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=8026469&Mytoken=20050512102811) should strike fear in everyone.

"Son, this is what you will become."

Gunther is in your extended user network.

Hahaha!

[Don Simeone]

This profile (http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=8026469&Mytoken=20050512102811) should strike fear in everyone.

"Son, this is what you will become."

dont you dare bash gunther...that guy is awesome...the song was a minor camp hit in europe, as well...seriously, awesome

[Wolf]

I don't have a MySpace account yet apparently Gunther is in my extended network also. !!!

[Kuky]

Gunther transcends all!

[Bath of Glitter]

I've, uh, *cough* only watched the video *cough* four times.