MySpace is Dangerous
May 15th, 2008 by John Setzler
I stumbled across THIS ARTICLE on CNN’s website as I was surfing the news tonight. It made me think about a lot of things. First of all, I guess I’m getting old, and there are more and more things like this out there that make me realize this. The internet, as we know it today, didn’t exist until I was about 23 or 24 years old or so… 16 years ago. I’m 40 now. I remember as the internet was unfolding into what it is today and we were all starting to cancel our AOL and CompuServe accounts, we were all thinking about how great it was going to be that we could access volumes and volumes of information with just a few keystrokes. The internet service providers that popped up were cheaper and more convenient than dialing into AOL and CompuServe, and the graphical interfaces made available through HTML were more interesting than what AOL had to offer, and tons better than the text interface from CompuServe. I never really thought about social networking via the internet during its early days. Social networking, at that time, meant having a lot of email addresses in your address book.
In my younger pre-internet days, we went to the local library when we needed to research something. We were usually limited to whatever encyclopedias, dictionaries, and magazine archives that were available. Cell phones, at this time, were still quite expensive, and not many people had portable cell phones at all. Text messaging via cell phone was not even an option. Time flies though…
Kids today don’t go to the library unless they don’t have computers at home. In my local library, they have a rather large bank of computers that may be accessed for internet use by patrons in one-hour-per-day increments at no cost. In my recent visits to the library, that’s where the activity is. You won’t find many people searching the stacks, but you will be lucky to find an empty seat in front of one of their computers.
I guess one good thing about my situation is that I don’t have any kids. I don’t have to worry about my children being preyed upon by social deviants on the internet. The only thing I would wish for is that parents would pay more attention to what their kids are doing online.
When I was 13 years old, my social relationships with girls happened at school and church only, and maybe through an occasional trip to the shopping mall with my parents. These relationships were face to face situations. I didn’t have to worry about whether or not the person I was communicating with was who they said they were. I could see for myself. Maybe I’m just more emotionally stable than some people, but I can’t even imagine how, at 13 years old, I could ever become suicidal over a relationship. I can, however, understand how something like that could happen if the person I thought to be my age was actually an experienced adult who was targeting me for harm.
The internet seems to provide security and self-esteem for those who have neither. It can give people the same sense of power and aggressiveness that causes road rage. Some people feel invulnerable behind the wheel of their car and behind the veil of their computer keyboard and monitor. They can be whoever they want to be, regardless of who they really are.
Dead horses… Deaf ears…
Maybe someday…
A suicidal girl committed suicide; I fail to see how this case is anything special.
Great insight, John. The internet does provide folks with the opportunity to be whoever they want to be, and reality is not a constant like it is in face to face situations. Predators are everywhere, and the internet makes it easier for some of them to operate. On a somewhat unrelated note, my niece told me that she sent 8000 texts last month. This is just another reminder of how old I am getting.
My kids both have a myspace account and both my kids have their own computer with internet access…but… they are in the same room as their father and I. One actually sits about 2 feet from me. They did ask if they could have their computers in their rooms which ended with a very short “absolutely not” answer. They know the risks and we know the risks.
There was a story here on 60 minutes of grown men posing as children to lure kids to a meeting point and then abuse them. We made our kids watch it and we had a family discussion afterwards. I think teaching your kids about the potential harm on the internet is so vital these days. Like you said John, when we were younger we met people face to face, there was no internet.. but even meeting people face to face had its own issues. This is just a different way for predators to pick their victims.
Being a parent is the hardest job in my opinion. I really feel for the family of that 13 yr old girl. My son is 13 and it really strikes home. I will be even more vigilant in who they are speaking to after reading this story.