Darryle Pollack: Parenting: It's All About Perspective
Another reason to be glad I'm not a teenager
Filed under: Media
MySpace.com is a popular social networking website and many teens have discovered its lure. In January a 17-year-old Long Island high school student asked, "Who do you hate in our school?" The answers came in over the next eight months. Verbal swings at students came in 16 pages and 240 often nasty statements of hate. I know all too well how the semi-anonymity of the internet makes people feel powerful and often allows for a virtual ugliness one would not act on in the 'real world.' If adults can display such ugliness on the internet, I can only imagine what hormone-laden teens can dish out on one another. The cyberbullying, though, can be extremely painful, and Long Island school officials are finding ways to deal with it. I am so glad I'm no longer a teenager. Is there some way I can skip over my kids being teenagers?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
12-18-2005 @ 6:34PM
Ann Adams said...No, mine is already starting at 12 but I can keep her off that part of the internet, or at least try.
I know I talk too much here sometimes but I don't go near the sites you're talking about and I don't want the girls involved either. It's cruel and furthermore it's stupid. I'm more afriad Elcie will read about herself than do any bullying but either way it's wrong.
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12-18-2005 @ 6:34PM
Meredith said...MySpace.com is really just an evil drunken clique. Your friends put you on their list so everyone is trying to "get" as many friends as possible. Its ridiculous.
Lord knows, there will be too many to count by the time my kid gets old enough.
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12-18-2005 @ 6:34PM
lisa said...I teach an 11th grade girls' bible study through our church and several of us who know these kids have recently been talking about myspace. It's a real problem. The kids don't realize how big the 'net truly is, and how many people see what they write on there. One girl told me, "It's not me, it's a persona." Well, then, don't put your name on it, or your picture, or the name of your high school! I'm scared for their safety.
And I agree, Melissa, with your idea of the 'friends' column. They want the # of friends displayed prominently on the page--it's the new status symbol.
I've been tempted to sign in and get my own myspace and haunt them mercilessly. Whahaha.
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12-18-2005 @ 6:34PM
Rick said...I think that myspace CAN BE a great way for kids to communicate. I personally prefer xanga.com, but that's me. I am married to a wonderful woman who has two sisters who are 12 and 14. They each have a myspace account. I frequent their accounts for two reasons
#1 - to make sure they are behaving
#2 - to make sure that there is no information on their account or in any of their posts that could indicate who they "really" are or where they live.
I am a computer major at a college here in town and I keep up with the latest in computer news, therefore I know how much information is too much information. When I first started frequenting their accounts, I had to tell them every little thing to do to keep them safe. Now, I feel very good about myself because they have learned to keep certain information off of the internet.
I tell you this story because I believe that the real thing to do is to TEACH the kids what to do online, not keep them off of it. What's going to happen when they are 19, move off to college, and have a myspace account that gives all the information on how to find them? You can't do anything to stop it, they will just say "I can do what I want now"...because, legally they can. You need to educate them while they are young so they don't royally screw up when they are older.
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