More MySpace Overreaction
A writer for the LA Times writes about what her 13 year old was up to on MySpace:
I’ve covered murders, grisly accidents, airplanes falling out of the sky and, occasionally, dirty politics. But in nearly two decades of journalism, nothing has made my insides churn like seeing what my 13-year-old daughter and her friends are up to on MySpace.com.
As I’ve written before here on Blog Herald, MySpace is nothing more than an online version of what teenagers back in my small town of 2400 used to do after school on a street corner, or down at the school parking lot, or out behind the baseball field. Granted, there’s more folks on MySpace than in my hometown by far.. but there’s little that I couldn’t do within my small circle of friends that I can do on MySpace.
Including sharing obscene pictures, arranging for sex, swapping stories about boys and girls, arranging dates, or getting drugs.
Honestly, the MySpace overreaction in the media is getting a little old.
Matt Craven is the former editor & publisher of The Blog Herald. Currently, Matt is the co-founder of Bryghtpath LLC, a consulting practice located in Woodbury, Minnesota. Matt's presently looking for new blogging gigs. Ping him at matt (at) bryghtpath dot com. You can follow him on Twitter.
The big difference is that with MySpace, suddenly parents can see teenagers doing this stuff. And sometimes there are predators checking it out.
But mostly it’s just like what the author wrote:
Parents aren’t ready to see their children that way. That’s ultimately where the whole blowup over MySpace comes from.
The parents reaction is reasonable. Postings in mypace suddently expose children to predators from all over world. That’s no contest to a parking lot.