by onlycurious 20 Replies latest jw friends
This is for all those parents of teens out there....
Do you really want your child on MySpace?
My 12 (almost 13) yr old opened her own acct without my permission....knowing FULL well I don't want her on it!!!
She gets to do a lot but she's starting to try to be a lot more independent from me and when it comes to the web, I am VERY careful.
Anyone dealt with this one?
I trust my 13 YO. He has an account and we have no problems. He informs me of any issues all the time.
It's the cesspool of the Internet.
And I don't say that 'cause of the content, but because of how it's structured.
There is something as "too much freedom" and these computer illiterate morons that have 20 million pictures on their profile take advantage of it.
edit: didn't see the "this is for parents."
I have to say at least myspace is making attempts to protect kid's profiles unlike a lot of lesser known forums on the internet. That said nothing is ever safe. I personally like myspace because I'm involved in the local music scene, before the "loose women" on it that's what the site was for....I'm also on facebook now which I find great for networking with old friends from university, high school, my hometown, old jobs, etc.
That forum has its ups and downs. On the one side, you have the chance to post blogs and look at other people's tastes in music, religion, and the like. There is a forum that has numerous topics to post about. They are cracking down on pedophiles (which is more than can be said about the Craptower Society) and spammers.
The down side is the trolls on the forums. The Health/Nutrition forum has about a dozen trolls that methodically tear apart any posts about vitamins, herbs, additives in foods, and whatever food is good for you. They have their own set of medical journals (sounds anything like the Watchtower Society?) that, if it's not there, you have no right posting about it. This might be good if they just bashed promoters of MLMs that are questionable, but many posts I have had ruined were generic products (alpha lipoic acid) without brand names or distributor names, or about MSG and aspartame (two additives that are poisons that will ruin your brain). This renders that forum useless.
The Religion forum frequently has JW threads. You are free to post anything about the religion (or any religion) there, including devil worship and atheism (and there are numerous threads about Satanism). The JW threads are dominated by active Witlesses posting what the Watchtower Society programs them to, and the apostates that analyze them rationally and cite other Web sites liberally.
Notice that the forum is open to anyone 14 years and up (those under 14 risk getting banned until you turn 14, or seeing mature content that is inappropriate). There is swearing allowed (however, excessive swearing and adult topics are not permitted). And you do have to guard your identity, but they are aggressively cracking down on that. So, those cautions aside, if you so see fit, sign up and enjoy! And it's free.
I have two myspace accounts that I haven't visited much for awhile now. I got tired of the porn and a certain loan company sending me e-mails and they were getting thru regardless of how I set up my account. Recently I entered my accounts and I see myspace is doing something about the porn and spamers. It's good, but I will always feel this site and other sites frequented by teens will always have danger hidden within. Parents have to monitor thier children on the internet.
onlycurious I think there is a danger in "overprotection" and at that emulation of what WTBS does to people in it's care. You can't possibly protect people from everything, kids in particular. Would you rather her doing it behind your back or with your help? That is the only thing in my opinion any parent should consider. They will come across weirdos in schoolyards, on a bus, in theater and just about anywhere they go. So in fact in my opinion MySpace is safer because it provides that buffer, "no physical contact" zone. And you can watch her because she is at home and by being her friend at that will give you more insight of what is going on in her life than when she is out of your sight. I think you should embrace that as a tool that will help her in growing up.
And don't forget that MySpace enables you to make your page only visible to your friends and at that you will always she who is the new friend on the list. Heckava lot easier than when they go out with friends. Wouldn't you agree?
My 12 (almost 13) yr old opened her own acct without my permission....knowing FULL well I don't want her on it!!!
Same here. I probably would have allowed it had we been asked. Fortunately you can set your profile to private so as long as this is what is happening, I'm ok with them being on it. The thing that bugs me more than them being on it is the amount of time they spend keeping their webpage up to date and ensuring that it's cooler than all their friends'.
She is my firstborn and as a firstborn, sometimes the laws get laid down a little tougher than for the little ducklings that follow in their footsteps.
This is all new to me. Geez, I went on her acct last night and she had it set to "private" (good job) and she said she lived somewhere across the otherside of the country (good job). I have friends that have accts just to see what their teens are up to. They dink around on the computer and find out a HOST of info and figure out real quick what is really going on.
I guess I could ease up in one aspect but monitor the site. As 12, she can still get on MySpace without even having an acct and still see things and read things that aren't okay. That's if she is up to being sneaky....which MOST kids are. I know I was real good at sneaking around.
Its tough letting the rope out a little and giving them freedom. This world has a lot of great things, but a lot of dangers too. That said, I have some thinking to do. Thanks for your input. It's really good to get another perspective. I'm all for that.
do you have your own myspace account? then you can add yourself as a friend and keep monitoring her page.. and comments by her friends on it..
and yeah.. make sure she has it set to private if you let her have it
