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Here in the UK Myspace is in the press most days, kids being taken in by oddballs etc.
I know on BBB we have some wise teens etc but is this sort of website a good thing?
Should sites like this be more strict in the age of member like bbb is?
What do you think .. am I just being a nervous mum and over protective or am I right that my kids have nothing to do with it?
If the world had more nervous mums (and dads) there would be no need for more control at myspace or anywhere else . . . but in the absence of such parents (present company excepted), the folks that run it and other such forums would be wise to monitor content. Hey, if Big Brother can watch adults, then watching the kiddos should be no big deal.
I know when my kids are online, I do monitor just a bit. More so with one than the other 😉 Actually, when one of my kids (not mentioning any names here) noticed a friend’s specific information being put out there, he decided to try to guide her out of posting such specifics, but I was ready to call her mom if I felt it necessary. “It takes a village to raise a child.” And some parents (and kids) need more help than others.
Also, with this media being so new to this generation of parents, and it is constantly being changed and updated, and the kids are more and more savvy about its use . . . It’s no wonder many of us are nervous letting our babies on. But they can learn so much, find a community of like-minded folks that just aren’t available locally, and make some really good friends to help bring us all a little closer.
As with everything else. First we take them; then eventually we let them go with a friend and his parents; then they can go with a group of friends that we know; and eventually they are taking their own kids. We’ve got to trust that the values and morals we are bringing them up with will carry over to all areas of their lives. But we must be vigilant because sometimes a real creep gets through and it’s our responsibility to protect our kids – even if they’re someone elses.
There is nothing wrong with MySpace. It’s the people using it that cause problems. The people running MySpace (and no, it’s not the MySpace Tom that actually runs the site, people… seriously) can only do so much to “protect” their users. Protecting them from their own stupidity is not part of the deal.
If these kids are dumb enough to post personally identifying information on the site, and think it’s a good idea to meet up with some strange person they only met online (especially much older strangers), then… something was wrong with them long before they created a MySpace account. Either the parents aren’t doing their jobs in teaching these kids how to not be stupid, or the kids aren’t using common sense.
Don’t blame MySpace, blame poor parenting and idiotic kids.
I say close it! It’s like having a container of idiocy disease without a lid on and it just keeps spreading contaminating and idiotifying (made up word) everybody it touches.
Yes I loathe myspace.
The only problem I have with myspace is that their code for the site could use a lot of debugging. I don’t know how many “The server is busy” messages I’ve recieved from it.
Close it!
I know the actual creators of MySpace aren’t to blame because what is happening there can very well happen anywhere else. But the thing is that it isn’t really happening anywhere else and MySpace has just provided easier means for illegal activity. Heck drug dealing on MySpace… (Yes, it was on the news).
Then we have the addiction to it… I mean it’s bad enough there’s people like me, who are addicted to the net, but when i had a guy ask me if i had a MySpace in a flirting way, i laughed in his face. Yeah we ask each other our Messenger ID’s and for E-mail addresses, but it just sounds so wrong, “someone asked for MySpace” …
I pretty much don’t like MySpace and refuse to use it, because either it’s going to get worse, or if they do add more control on it, people will stop using it. So either way it’s doomed. Mark my words! 😛
But yeah this was my own little MySpace rant…
I know so many people keep in touch this way, but MySpace’s image has been tainted so badly towards a bad reputation that i doubt anything can ever change that.
hatedjealousy wrote:Close it!I know the actual creators of MySpace aren’t to blame because what is happening there can very well happen anywhere else. But the thing is that it isn’t really happening anywhere else and MySpace has just provided easier means for illegal activity. Heck drug dealing on MySpace… (Yes, it was on the news).
then we also have to close down every bar, every street corner, every alleyway, every park. we have to close down anywhere that might pose a threat to people dumb enough to risk their safety there.
really… how many people have been harmed (emotionally, physically, whatever) compared to the millions of users MySpace has? This is no more than a case of prominent examples making people assume these activities are more widespread than they really are.
if you hear that 100 planes crashed this year, you’d be shocked to know that many planes went down. but what you don’t take into account is how many thousands of flights go about their usual business with no problems whatsoever. you have to realize how small of a percentage these cases make up. the benefits of a social networking site like MySpace far outweigh the problems when you look at how many people use it regularly with no horrible consequences.and you talk about addiction, but the same could be said for anything. how many people are addicted to certain kinds of food, or medications, or games (Everquest)), or other websites? (how often do you check BBB? Facebook? Yahoo?) As long as people don’t get out of control, and think responsibly, things work out alright in the end.
don’t kill it for the few sporadic blown-out-of-proportion-by-the-media cases.
Well, I think parents need to get in this. Now how MySpace would verify them as a parent, I’m not sure, but they need that so that the parents can go and check up on their kid, and have full access to the profile. Maybe if they know a certain bit of information that their kid gave? Something to verify that it was a parent (yes this could be considred spying), and then they can get on, and check everything out about their sons/daughter’s account. They need more security.
no no no no. i dont have a problem with parents registering with MySpace, but they shouldn’t be any different than any other user. if you need to spy on your kid, you’re not doing a very good job as a parent.
if you want to check their profile, go ahead and do so as a regular user. if you can’t view their profile (set to private, whatever) then ASK them about it. ASK them what’s in their profile. request to be added as their friend. if they deny you, then DEAL WITH IT.
kids don’t want their parents looking over their shoulder second-guessing everything they’re doing all the time. it’s a step toward independence — overly cautious and protective parents will only make it worse. spying on your children does NOT breed trust – it breeds distrust and anger.
Tigerblade wrote:if you need to spy on your kid, you’re not doing a very good job as a parent.This is so not true and very unfair. I’ve seen some of the best parents ever, show their kid love and everything but some kids just turn out bad, regardless of what you do. And on the other hand, i’ve seen some extremely bad parents, yet the kid turns out to do wonderful things… So i’m sorry, but that is very wrong of you to say.
As for the bars and stuff, well those are limited on age, but you are right if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. But just like always the bad things get pointed out, i think it’ll eventually end up closing on it’s own due to lawsuits and so on…
Look, people lie about their ages to get in. I know 10 year olds who are on MySpace. Plus, like I also know people who have great parents but sometimes give a bit too much info out. It’s just that kids (and I know because I am one), sometimes want to just post awesome pics or like I feel I should fill it in so my friends can know who I am (of course I NEVER fill in all the stuff, I usually put my zip as 02134 which is is Massachusetts heh). They feel they need to be truthful for their friends, which is good because they know who each other are. However, what NEEDS to happen is to have, (GREAT IDEA), people under the age of 18 on there should have their stuff restricted to “private”, of course then they would have to make sure that they ONLY add friends, but I feel something like that would help a lot.
i guess i’m taking the unpopular position here, but i’m always willing to take my stand in a good debate, so have at it.
MrEggsalad wrote:Look, people lie about their ages to get in. I know 10 year olds who are on MySpace.Quote:However, what NEEDS to happen is to have, (GREAT IDEA), people under the age of 18 on there should have their stuff restricted to “private”, of course then they would have to make sure that they ONLY add friends, but I feel something like that would help a lot.you just contradicted yourself there. people lie about their ages to begin with, so further restricting their accounts, they’ll just lie even more. now these 10 year olds are 18 instead of just 14.
they’d have to verify ages somehow, which they can’t really. and you can’t use credit card validation, because that excludes the vast majority of the MySpace crowd. I didn’t have a credit card til I was 21.
Well yes and I realized that, however it won’t solve the problem, but for all those who are ALREADY signed up, MySpace could even lock their birthdays in so those people under 18 all are private unless they are friends with one another. MySpace should let you change your birthday for say a certain time period, then once that is done it’s locked, and stuff. My suggestion would certainly help though.
As a parent, I love MySpace! Yes, you read correctly. I love MySpace. Why? Because it let’s me see what my kids are really up to, who their talking with and what they’re saying.
Is it a scary place? As a microcosm of the real world, yeah it’s scary. But just as with the real world, parents need to be informed. In the real world, parents who care want to know where their kids are going, how late they’ll be out, and who they’ll be with. Why should this be any different online?
If I was a computer novice, I’d be getting educated about MySpace, learning how to get around and where my kid’s profiles are. MySpace isn’t evil, it’s just another place where kids can hang out. And yes, sometimes when kids hang out, they do stupid stuff. And it’s the responsibility of parents to keep track of their kids, not the government or Tom or anyone else.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, here are my kid’s MySpace accounts (they never read BigBlueBall, so they won’t even know I posted them)…
Oh, and I’m on MySpace, too.. pimping the BigBlueBall. 😎
LOL cool Jeff – need to teach me to pimp the Big Blue Ball, Good to see a parent being understanding instead of just forbidding or ignoring what their children do. I thought I fall over when my son asked me if I be on his buddies list. He also asked me to join another forum group he likes which is Yahoo answers, which is nice but isn’t the Big Blue Ball.
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