Some perspective on MySpace

By JAMES DERK
Scripps Howard News Service
27-MAR-06

With all of the furor and hype going on about MySpace I think it is time to take a step back and give parents (and teens) a little perspective of what's going on here.

First, the basics _ MySpace is an interactive networking Web site with more than 65 million users. It's the fastest growing site among young people in the world and in the top 3 in the total Internet.

The goal is to put up a Web site all about you and your life then connect to a "network" of friends. Then you're interconnected with everyone they know and eventually you have a large spiderweb of buddies.

On the surface the idea is fine, but like most things it has become reflective of the worst of society. MySpace has been taken over by teens and young people ("tweens") who are putting up all manner of content about themselves on the sites. We're at a perfect storm here when it comes to issues like these.

First, kids now have access to digital cameras and can take photographs of themselves and their friends that never pass through the editors of my day, namely my parents and the photolab. That means MySpace is full of photographs of risque photos, to put it politely.

What the kids of today don't seem to understand is the Web is forever. On the practical side, that photo of you with your underwear on your head using a beer bong may be kinda funny to you today, but won't be all that amusing 10 years later at your Senate confirmation hearing or your job interview for law partner.

Child advocate Nancy Willard said this best about MySpace:

"Teens are clearly using places like MySpace to establish social status. How do young males establish social status? By posting manly, daring images and information that demonstrate independence and bravery and by being listed as a friend on as many profiles of "hot girls" as possible. And how do girls establish social status? By posting sexually provocative pictures and titillating information that attracts the attention and friendship links of manly guys. How does any teen attract attention? By posting hot, intimate information. The teens who are into playing these games are the ones who are most likely playing these games on places like MySpace."

Then there's the creep factor. I typed in my hometown in MySpace and found dozens of kids that I know in less than 10 minutes of browsing, including several that need to have a note dropped to their parents. And there have been numerous cases in the media of stalkers, pedophiles and rapists using MySpace.

What should you as a parent do, right now? Take an hour, sign up for a fake MySpace account and browse your kids. Find out what is on their profile. What could you, as a stranger, find out about your kid?

Then browse their friends and who is in their network.

If you want your child's page removed, you can use the contact link at the bottom of the MySpace page and include the address of the page.


(James Derk is co-owner of CyberDads, a computer repair company, and a computer columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His e-mail address is jim(at)cyberdads.com.)