MySpace echoes the teen hangouts of earlier years
The 1973 film "American Graffiti" depicts teen life in the cruisin', sock-hoppin', rock 'n' rollin' happy days of the early 1960s. Whether assembled at Mel's Drive-in, parading their customized cars or listening to the radio, the characters never stop talking, never stop showing off and never stop watching one another.
In the 21st century, an Internet outlet for these classic teen behaviors has emerged; at MySpace, teens create personal pages, view other people's profiles and connect with one another.
Recently, I asked my 17-year-old daughter, who has homesteaded a quarter-section of this frontier, for a tour. She showed me her space and let me tag along as she visited some of her friends.
Teens always have felt compelled to congregate, to share their feelings and to exhibit their developing personalities. My mother attended Saturday-night dances, and in the 1990s, my oldest daughters joined their friends at the mall. I remember when teens, driven to express themselves, scrawled on bathroom walls, flamboyantly decorated railroad bridges and made mushy song dedications on the radio. The same urge that prompted hours of conversation on pink Princess-style telephones in the 1970s stimulates incessant cell-phoning, e-mailing and instant-messaging today.
Like the "Me Books" that children write in elementary school, the personalized MySpace pages I viewed contained biographical particulars and lists of favorites. I noticed, however, that many profile portraits were intentionally obscure -- less recognizable than the photos of teens printed regularly, along with names and schools, in daily newspapers. In addition, personal data often were purposefully disguised; more than one girl listed her age as 99, for example. There are offensive pages; as my daughter says, "Some people are vulgar -- they have vulgar spaces." However, she continues, "You don't have to go there."
Their suspicions inflamed by scary media warnings about students imperiling their futures by displaying outrageous photos and comments or, worse, naively exposing themselves to predators, parents of teens might be tempted to declare MySpace off-limits.
However, these hazards are not new; pedophiles stalked Saturday-night dances, girls thoughtlessly climbed into the wrong hot rods in the 1950s, and "fools' names and fools' faces have always appeared in public places."
Obviously, children must be cautioned to use common sense on the Internet; more importantly, parents must build their teens' sense of self-worth with trust and love. And keep an eye on them.
Karen Utley has lived in Salem for 14 years and is the mother of eight children. She can be reached at utley673@open.org.
In the 21st century, an Internet outlet for these classic teen behaviors has emerged; at MySpace, teens create personal pages, view other people's profiles and connect with one another.
Recently, I asked my 17-year-old daughter, who has homesteaded a quarter-section of this frontier, for a tour. She showed me her space and let me tag along as she visited some of her friends.
Teens always have felt compelled to congregate, to share their feelings and to exhibit their developing personalities. My mother attended Saturday-night dances, and in the 1990s, my oldest daughters joined their friends at the mall. I remember when teens, driven to express themselves, scrawled on bathroom walls, flamboyantly decorated railroad bridges and made mushy song dedications on the radio. The same urge that prompted hours of conversation on pink Princess-style telephones in the 1970s stimulates incessant cell-phoning, e-mailing and instant-messaging today.
Like the "Me Books" that children write in elementary school, the personalized MySpace pages I viewed contained biographical particulars and lists of favorites. I noticed, however, that many profile portraits were intentionally obscure -- less recognizable than the photos of teens printed regularly, along with names and schools, in daily newspapers. In addition, personal data often were purposefully disguised; more than one girl listed her age as 99, for example. There are offensive pages; as my daughter says, "Some people are vulgar -- they have vulgar spaces." However, she continues, "You don't have to go there."
Their suspicions inflamed by scary media warnings about students imperiling their futures by displaying outrageous photos and comments or, worse, naively exposing themselves to predators, parents of teens might be tempted to declare MySpace off-limits.
However, these hazards are not new; pedophiles stalked Saturday-night dances, girls thoughtlessly climbed into the wrong hot rods in the 1950s, and "fools' names and fools' faces have always appeared in public places."
Obviously, children must be cautioned to use common sense on the Internet; more importantly, parents must build their teens' sense of self-worth with trust and love. And keep an eye on them.
Karen Utley has lived in Salem for 14 years and is the mother of eight children. She can be reached at utley673@open.org.
posted by idtics at 1:18 PM
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