March 19, 2006
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SUNDAY GOOD NEWSLately when my grandson (14) has been In The House, I’ve noticed
that he spends a portion of his time on MySpace. Having
heard horror stories about predators tracking down kids on this site, I
did a little peering over his shoulder and asking questions. Here
are some things I noted:1. There’s a warning that appears if you upload a graphic of any
kind that if it’s pornographic or violent, etc. it will be deleted and,
sure enough, I watched him upload a photo and wait as it was
“processed” and accepted. (Nevertheless, it would seem some
photos posted by teenagers push the limit a bit).2. Music – god knows I don’t understand or even want to
understand really the current music genre of most teenagers. I
guess it’s a generational thing. I can remember my own parents
being aghast at electric rock music, Bob Dylan, and even, god bless em,
The Beatles. MySpace makes it possible for anyone, anywhere, to
submit MP3s of their own creation and have them audible throughout the
globe. So, unlike Xanga, tune in to MySpace and you’ll hear
ongoing music on little miniature radios. What can I say – It’s
Hard Out Here for a Pimp won the Academy Award for Best Song this year,
and the Academy is a pretty conservative group, I’m told.
Obviously, in the third year of the current war, with bad news way
outweighing good everywhere you turn, I guess I can’t expect teenagers
to be listening to mellow sounds and lyrics. So my jury is out on
this component.3. The social aspect. As we all know here on Xanga,
blogging is a way of expressing yourself with a certain degree of
safety net because it’s not actually in person. It also allows
for feedback, which is generally encouraging if people bother to post
it. Must be different for teens though who see each other every
day in school. I saw that my grandson posted something about
school assignments, for example. “What is the lab assignment for
tomorrow?” type stuff. But a lot of it sounds like just
practicing the kind of banter that kids use to get acquainted and firm
up friendships.Bottom line is I’m not sure if the dark side of blogging outweighs the
light yet. Blogging is not going to go away any time soon for any
age folks. Some of the most important news travels by blog faster
than any other way. Blogging is not controlled by the corporate
media – not yet anyway. As for my grandson, I have his login and
password and I’m planning to keep breathing down his neck on this one
till he’s oh say, 35 or so. Just kidding. I’ll probably
have gone to the Great Xanga in the Sky by then. Like Stephen
Colbert would say, “And that’s the Word.”
Deep Thought:
“When I heard that trees grow a new “ring” for each year they live, I
thought, we humans are kind of like that: we grow a new layer of skin
each year, and after many years we are thick and unwieldy from all our
skin layers.”
Today I am grateful for: Hands.
Guess the Movie: “Great balls of fire. Don’t bother me anymore, and don’t call me sugar.”
Answer: Gone With The Wind, 1939. Winner: cocoabent.
Wounded lives
After three years of war, many who
served in Iraq are returning home to face a different kind of battle.
And the casualties this time are American families.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
JULIE SULLIVAN (Rest of article here.)
Comments (22)
Yes…blogging and our many forms of expression are here to stay! Great photo! Dunno the movie but the quote is makin’ me laugh today!
I think the dangers in myspace and other types of blogging depend somewhat upon the age of the child and the child’s individual personality. A twelve year old does not have the discernment of a 14 or 15 year old, and may not have the maturity to recognize that flattering attention from a stranger is a warning sign. Also, I would be very cautious with a child who is vulnerable in any way – suffering from low self-esteem, having peer group difficulties, because they are more vulnerable, and sometimes will accept the positive attention wherever they can get it. My daughter is 16. She moved from our hometown when she was 12, and has been to two different high schools, and has more friends than I could imagine anyone having. While she sees some of them infrequently, she manages to keep up with them via MSN and myspace. I think it’s always good to be vigilant, and know what’s going on in your child’s life without being too overprotective.
excellent entry :>) Thank you for your take on myspace..i have an account there but my kiddos won’t for quite a while..(at least 3 years :>) i have been reading all the different takes on it and appreciate yours.
ps. I am grateful for hands as well and I know that my cousin is having a really tough time now that he is back from Iraq with his kids and wife.
I have grown addicted to my space. It’s sad, but it’s true. I have nothing to offer on the child predator problem, as I’m neither a child predator, a minor, nor a parent or grandparent. It’s out of my realm of experience. I do know that I spend an embarrasingly large portion of my time there. It helps when you’re at home all day reading and writing papers.
Spleen has a myspace and so do I. I don’t do anything with my myspace other than keep an eye on spleen. I know so many people who I consider otherwise good parents have no idea what their kids are doing online. I think that is great that you are keeping a watchful eye on your grandson.
I don’t know my way around myspace the way I do with Xanga but I think myspace seems a little more like the wild frontier. I think myspace is less about blogging and more about socializing and I think for teens its the socializing that they do when they are around their peers than what they would do around their parents. Although it’s a bit scary I think it gives a more realistic view into their behavior.
I guess my teen is unusual in that he and his friends listen to a lot of music that I listened to when I was growing up.
Love to you, Judi
That’s great that you’re keeping an eye on him. Gosh… that article is excellent. It’s overwhelming when you multiply that same story by thousands impacted. Glad you shared. Is that quote Miss Scarlett? Hmmm… Well, thanks again and have a great week.
Yes Miss Scarlett! You win! Gone With the Wind.
“When I heard that trees grow a new “ring” for each year they live, I thought, we humans are kind of like that: we grow a new layer of skin each year, and after many years we are thick and unwielding from all our skin layers.”
Thought-provoking, and oh so true.
there is a dark side of blogging out there…
Blogging’s here to stay, and the only way to combat the downsides and darksides is to recall the Biblical admonition: All things in moderation. That, plus parental or grandparental involvement or at least some conversation once in a while. And even then, there are dangers. But overprotectiveness is worse. I think.
A lot of the kids I know post at My Space. I have heard all kinds of things about it but so far seems like my girls are doing Ok with it. One daughter is almost 21, the other is 32, married with kids. A lot of their peers post there….you are right with some of the images they get away with. One picture I saw (one of my daughter’s showed me an acquaintance’s site) was something I didn’t even recognize….it was a well, how to say a female genital piercing. Good grief. I think you are right in being vigilant. Sometimes that is hard to do without feeling like you are interfering.
Blogging, like everything else, has its price.
I think many things that children do should be supervised, from the television programs they watch to the kids they play with.
Leading by example is one of the best ways to raise kids I think. I seen in our 62 year old son qualities of character that I tried to teach him and apparently succeeded.
Like most anything else, one gets out of something what they are looking for.
I don’t understand the musical tastes of teenagers either, and I’m only 25!
i think it’s getting harder and harder to supervise what your children are up to on the web. there was an oprah show weeks ago regarding this topic, where the kid was explaining to the audience how kids today are more tech savey than most people think. they can bypass passwords, infiltrate blocked sites, etc. of course, take all avenues to protect your children, while giving them privacy, but i suppose it all comes down to your relationship with your children – creating close and honest bonds where they feel safe enough to let you know what’s going on in their lives.
Not sure I’m eager to have my kids blog, or have cellphones, or other gadgets and e-opportunities. The war. Three years. How depressing. I read that Bush has a plan. I’d like to see him explain this plan. It’d be like Spaulding Gray at the dinner scene of True Stories, I bet. A lot of nonsense and flying food.
myspace is too confusing. i have one, it sucks though.
My daughter keeps asking now about Myspace, it’s a firm NO for now. But she luckily isn’t THAT interested in it. Whew.. I know it’s coming tho. I do try to keep up with the current music trends that my daughter listens too. Isn’t that something? I could NOT believe that Pimp song won. They must have been hard up for something better. @!@
Mundus vult decipi – The world wants to be deceived
There are some positive social-networking aspects of myspace, but for the most part you’re right it’s a scary place to let your kids roam about. I had an account, and decided to leave because it was an unsafe environment in terms of malicious code which could be inserted into someone’s profile unknowingly… mark my words, the next huge internet “virus” will happen in myspace or a similar environment where users contribute arbitrary markup language.
I watch the teen saround here on myspace and it seems harmless