thoughts on myspace

[xzvrw2]

one of my friends on myspace wrote this in her blog.
i thought it was fairly interesting.
tell me your thoughts.

"Anybody happen to catch Nightline last night on ABC? In case you didn't, one of the hot topics discussed was MySpace. It is no secret to anyone who reads the newspaper or watches the 6 o'clock news that MySpace has been in the limelight because of "sexual predators" trying to "abduct and corrupt" the youth of the world. To this I say bullcrap! I see dozens of profiles a day showing 14 year old girls dressed like prostitutes, wearing four inches of make up and 32 layers of eyeliner, displaying their age as 18 years old and profile lines stating "Oh, I'm So Sexy" or "Hey There, Wanna Check Up On It?" Come on! The youth of today's world are already corrupt enough due to the undying need to be "older" than they really are. I seriously doubt there are tons of people on MySpace stalking "innocent young girls" who just happen to have tramped up profiles and ages 4 years greater than their own.

On Nightline, there was a story of a 12 year old girl who was a drug-addict and attributed it all to MySpace. She claims that MySPace allowed her to easily fing drug dealers in her area, as well as older men to have sex with her. Now, at the age of 14, she has been checked into a drug-rehabilitation clinic and has been away from her family for 5 months. Her parents would rather place the blame squarely on the shoulders of MySpace instead of their daughter, who even admitted that at the age of 12, had already tried weed, crack, X, and had slept with numerous guys older than herself...but of course, it wasn't her fault, it was all because of MySpace.

Once again, COME ON! When are parents and children going to stop passing the blame and grow up enough to take responsibility for their actions and the actions of their children.. Parent's, monitor your children online, take some responsibility for YOUR children. Children, if a profile name sounds like something that comes out of a cheap horror movie, like "DARK ANGEL OF DEATH WHO EATS THE BRAINS OF GIRLS"...chances are you DO NOT WANT TO ADD THEM AS A FRIEND. Apparently there is new legislation in Congress now to block MySpace in all public schools and public libraries across the United States. All because little girls want to act grown and don't want to accept the consequences and parents don't want to accept the fact that their "innocent little girls" are posing as 18 year old trying to buy drugs.

Eventually, if this continues, MySpace could be totally outlawed from the Internet. Restrictions will be put in place in order to make MySpace "safer". I don't know about you, but I use MySpace to keep in touch with my family and friends, use it for messages, and just to have a space that is my own. Just because some children want to act grown, does that mean I may have to eventually give up my MySpace? "

[Morgan Gillespie]

No, it is like LimeWire, while people who use it have most likely stolen media before this makes it easier for them. While a pedophile has committed a crime before MySpace makes it easier for them.
Also why parents are wrong to put the blame of their corrupt children on MySpace yet they can however blame them for creating a place for kids to put stuff like that online easily and allow millions of people to see it just as easily.

Thus is the second reason I do not currently have a MySpace profile.
The first is, tom creeps me out.

[Adam Richards]

Originally Posted by Mercury Rising

No, it is like LimeWire, while people who use it have most likely stolen media before this makes it easier for them. While a pedophile has committed a crime before MySpace makes it easier for them.
Also why parents are wrong to put the blame of their corrupt children on MySpace yet they can however blame them for creating a place for kids to put stuff like that online easily and allow millions of people to see it just as easily.

Thus is the second reason I do not currently have a MySpace profile.
The first is, tom creeps me out.

It still doesn't remove the responsibility of the parent to protect their child though. If some parents were more mindful of their children's actions, they would either not let them have a myspace profile or let them and simply screen the content and their friends to ensure that nothing bad is going to happen to them. Either way, there are plenty of legitimate uses for MySpace, as there are for many other websites/software programs.

[Jaine Perotti]

I don't think it is at all appropriate for the parents to put the blame on myspace.com for their daughter's poor choices. I think the responsibility rests on their shoulders because they, as parents, should have laid down the rules and expectations from the get-go that would not have allowed her to develop such poor behavior. If some parents feel that not allowing their child to get a myspace account (because myspace would help them continue their bad behavior), then by all means they should do so. However, an outright ban should not be considered a solution to the problem. Unfortunately, the problem lies in the origins of the action itself (bad parenting techniques, emotionally disturbing experiences, etc.).

As for banning the myspace url at schools, my school (a regional public high school) has chosen to block it (as well as facebook, xanga, and any other social networking sites). Personally, I don't feel that blocking the url is going to protect anyone from sexual predators. If kids want myspace, they will do it at home instead of at school. The only real benefit of blocking the url at school is that it prevents students from being distracted by it while they may need to be doing other work.

I have both a myspace and a facebook account. Oftentimes I wish I had never gotten either. Not because it makes me feel unsafe - I never share personally identifiable information that could lead someone to my front doorstep, nor do I ever arrange to meet someone I met online. The only time I will ever meet someone I met online is if the person met me through chiefdelphi, and I am meeting them at a competition where there are lots of people around or I am with friends of mine who already know the person.

However, I really wish I had never gotten a myspace because of the fact that it is extremely distracting and potentially addictive. Also, conflicting social situations arise because of things that are said/done on myspace. Many times people vent their frustration when they shouldn't, treat myspace as if it is some sort of rating system for their friends, or broadcast information and PDA which should be kept private because it upsets others.

Why don't I delete my account?
I am tempted to... almost every day. But now its one of those things that I can't stop paying attention to, even though I wish I didn't. One of these days I am probably going to hit that "delete" button soon though, and I will be happy to rely on email, phone, or IM for communication. I have an account here on CD because it does some good for me and the world. But myspace has never helped me in any way... it has only frustrated me and wasted my time. Not to mention how quickly I got sick of whoring bulletins and chain bulletins. So, if you are contemplating getting a myspace... my advice is to JUST NOT DO IT.

-- Jaine

[Michelle Celio]

I used to be a really big fan of myspace. Up until a few months ago. I started getting random friend requests from strange strange characters.

Since I'm not feeling good, long story short: I no longer have a myspace. I don't they are "safe". But, my cat has one, yes I said my cat has a myspace.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I also used to have a myspace account. I realized that I didn't want it, for many of those reasons. I didn't like the "all-inclusiveness" of it.

On Facebook, which isn't much safer, there was at least some security that only people from one's own college website could look at the profile without having to add you first. That doesn't appear on myspace.

[Matt Krass]

MySpace...heh....

Not my favorite site in the world.

However, as far as that girl goes. There's no blame to be put anywhere but squarely on the girl, and her parents. Anyone who knows me knows it's a hot button issue with me. I have serious concerns for parenting skills when I look around at classmates daily and see what a degenerated life some of them have. I realize not everyone has a great job and a good family, but some of these things are definitely preventable by watching your kids carefully and being a good parent. My parents always made sure I stayed (relatively) out of trouble, as out of trouble as a mischievous kid like me can be anyways, and I thank them for it, my life could have turned out much worse, but I doubt much better.

If anyone wants to hit me up for a more in depth discussion on my views on MySpace and parenting, PM me for contact info.

[miketwalker]

I agree that passing the blame onto Myspace is wrong. I mean, the site started out to help bands get promoted... not for what it turned into. Myspace became this "networking" site because of the users. As many of the other posts have stated, the issue lies in the users themselves.

I do, however, believe that Myspace makes it easier for things to happen (I like the Limewire reference Mercury Rising used). I think that the biggest issue is in the security (obviously). The thing is, what else can Myspace do that will fix this? Other networking sites like Facebook use authorization for networks through college and work e-mail addresses. It allows the user to control who can see what and how much. Systems such as that work excellent. For example, in my case, if a friend needs to get in touch with me they can access my phone number... if somebody goes to my school and is trying to find me cause we had a class together, they can see my basic profile to know it's me and get back in touch but it's not giving away too much, and someone who isn't at my school (and has a much less chance of a reason to see my profile) can just see my name and a basic picture to see if it's the person they were searching for in which case they can ask to be added as a friend. The problem with this system is the fact that Myspace can't really limit it for the most part. Even if middle/high school students open a Myspace and some form of protection was made (i.e. only friends can see most things) often times students are too immature to understand the importance of protecting their personal information. Now, any middle/high schoolers reading this, don't take offense... for the most part students in FIRST seem to have a decent perspective on right/wrong... but many kids don't. To force a limit on people would just cause a different networking site to take over and offer it to them.

The problem is going to remain with the group of people its' affecting until a culture change occurs in that area and the students have better parental/educational/whatever instruction and oversight. I'm not talking someone who checks everything you do on the internet, but someone who can make sure the child understands what they're dealing with before letting them have free choice.

[Tristan Lall]

Just as an aside, here's a draft of the House resolution, which would "ban" MySpace. (Dated May 9^th; it may have changed since then.)

Note this definition:

The term ‘commercial social networking website’ means a commercially operated Internet website that—
(i) allows users to create web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves and are available to other users; and
(ii) offers a mechanism for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, email, or instant messenger.

That covers a whole lot of the internet. And it puts a great burden on the people and organizations who would be forced to implement the protections outlined in the resolution—librarians, for example.

But it's not outlawing the service itself, as was previously suggested. That's very probably unconstitutional.

[Lil' Lavery]

As mentioned before, MySpace is what it is because of what the users have done to it. Orgininally it was there for BAND, not PEOPLE, networking. That concept is great for bands, but when you apply it to people, it's nothing short of downright stupid.
What point does MySpace serve right now?
Communication? Umm, why not use E-mail? or how about the phone?
Photo sharing? Once again, E-mail. Or how about Photobucket or similar sites? You can even password protect those albums.
Blogging? Livejournal, etc work just as well for that
Etc, etc, etc. There really is only one point to MySpace.
That's "networking". Helping you meet people you don't know in real life....
And that's just a bad idea, period.

[Elgin Clock]

There was more to that bulletin and yes.. I reposted that on my myspace because I think it is the most true and accurate bulletin I have ever come across.

The people stalking others on myspace need to get a freakin' life.

The underage people posing as older people and who are flaunting what they think they have to the world need to get a life, and stop their fakeness.

And last but not least, myspace does need a lot better way of telling who is old enough to be on their site.

Never has a site taken such a huge rise in membership, and when that happens you know stupid things are going to come out of it as it has in Myspace.

I think in the matters that have made the public eye lately about the evils that myspace brings, a person I know had the best straight forward talk with his pre-teen daughter.

Basically he told her, that if she got a myspace page and flaunted herself on it and some dude ended up trying to stalk her and even meet her, then her life as she knows it would basically end.

The person I know would kick the stalkers you know what or worse.

He would end up in jail for something.

His wife wouldn't be able to take care of the family and thus they would end up on welfare, or somewhere worse.

She would never be able to see her father again, and never probably end up going to college or have a "normal" life again.


So.. does she really want a myspace page at this time in her life anymore?

Would you if you were in her shoes?

I didn't think so.

Sometimes what we all need is a harsh wake up call to how mean life really could be.

She got a vision of one, and won't be on myspace anytime soon.

And that is the reason that on my myspace, I reposted that bulletin.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

Just as an aside, here's a draft of the House resolution, which would "ban" MySpace. (Dated May 9^th; it may have changed since then.)

Note this definition:That covers a whole lot of the internet. And it puts a great burden on the people and organizations who would be forced to implement the protections outlined in the resolution—librarians, for example.

But it's not outlawing the service itself, as was previously suggested. That's very probably unconstitutional.

If that passes it's time to move to Canada. There's no way banning social networking sites doesn't infringe on constitutionally protected freedoms.

[Ashley Weed]

One needs to understand in our ever evolving technological society of today, that we have indeed a great digital divide between the generation of this said girl and the parents. Yes, the parents are fully responsible for all of her actions as stated by law as she is a minor. However, within our culture, there is a lot within the Information Environment that must be understood with that older generations may not even know how to turn on the home PC, let alone monitor their child's behavior. Not only with mySpace, but recently Facebook a cross of Public Policy into the Information Environment has occurred with incriminating underage college students who posted photographs of themselves drinking, and conducting in other illegal activities on college campuses. All actions that you take on any of these sites must be taken into consideration with your future. Colleges and potential employers have access to them, and can deny you opportunities based off of the character you portray in your profiles.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Ashley Weed

One needs to understand in our ever evolving technological society of today, that we have indeed a great digital divide between the generation of this said girl and the parents. Yes, the parents are fully responsible for all of her actions as stated by law as she is a minor. However, within our culture, there is a lot within the Information Environment that must be understood with that older generations may not even know how to turn on the home PC, let alone monitor their child's behavior. Not only with mySpace, but recently Facebook a cross of Public Policy into the Information Environment has occurred with incriminating underage college students who posted photographs of themselves drinking, and conducting in other illegal activities on college campuses. All actions that you take on any of these sites must be taken into consideration with your future. Colleges and potential employers have access to them, and can deny you opportunities based off of the character you portray in your profiles.

Ashley just nailed it. And technology keeps evolving and developing fast. Crazyfast.
And children are very, very smooth operators. I think a lot of teachers have a better handle on what is happening with the students than the parents do. The teachers keep having to come up with ways to stop the technology from intruding on their classes.
I like what you guys are saying, it's great.
Jane

[Alexa Stott]

My thoughts on MySpace:

It has great potential if used properly. It was originally established as a way for bands to create profiles and network. A great idea, IMHO. But once all the wannabe slutty teenage girls got ahold of it, it turned bad. It is not MySpace's fault that people get raped or assaulted by someone they met on MySpace. It also isn't their fault that pedophiles found their way there.

Personally, I must agree with Encyclopædia Dramatica on these few things for which MySpace should be congratulated:
* Autoplaying video clips in profile that never work properly and have to spend 5 minutes disabling.
* Autoplaying music which inevitably starts by surprise at maximum volume.
* Eye-searing color schemes that makes people's text impossible to read, and you'll have to highlight everything in order to read it easier but then realize that it's all s*** nobody cares about.
* Dialup user patience initiative - the bigger the w****, the more hours the page will take to load on dialup.
* Sitewide custom of sending friends requests to strangers without ever contacting the person beforehand.
* People pretending to be television or movie characters, which has never been done before anywhere.
* People who add the fake television or movie characters to their friends list and say "OMG lewk I em phreands with Morpheus LOLZORZ OMG!!!!!!!!!!!111
* Is always b0rked when you want to use it. Always.
* Patented "browser crash upon visit" technology.
* Fun "click the stop button" game on every visit!

The entire article basically sums up everything I believe about MySpace (with some snark thrown in). It's not entirely PC, but it is, of course, Encyclopædia Dramatica. To read the full thing go here.

RE: The girl that was mentioned in the first post of this topic:
It is the sole responsibility of the parents and the girl, especially since she was TWELVE YEARS OLD! I mean, that's well below the minimum age for MySpace, I believe. Yes, it's unfortunate that there are some terrible people out there, but parents can at least protect their children as much as they can by monitoring their children's internet access.