Social Networking Websites are so much trouble now a days, especially if you have kids. Being a parent of two kids and the aunt to a few nieces and nephews I know how important it is to have an eye on what they are doing.
My teenage neices and nephews have MySpace pages which is ok, but recently I have started to notice is; a lot of men and women ages 20 – 45 want to be their friends for some reason. Maybe because they are pedophiles.
Because of these bad apples on sites such as Facebook and MySpace, a lot of people including myself block these social networking websites on their home network, and with free services such as OpenDNS making it so easy to do even the most novice of computer users are doing it themselves.
While Social Networking is great way to keep in touch with friends and family, our children who have access to these sites are at risk and it’s our duty as parents to protect them. What is mind boggling is Schools are doing very little to do the same. With the exception of schools in Virginia. My nephew is 10 years old, and he has a MySpace page, yet he doesn’t have a computer and he lied about his age to open the account.
How did he get it? Well his teacher at school helped him create one, and according to him and one of his classmates the teacher helped everyone in the class to create one. The teacher and all their classmates were listed as friends. While I can understand the benefit of this, the teacher whose profile was available to them had friends who also had public profiles, and these friends had somewhat “REVEALING” pictures of themselves in clothing that would make Ashley Dupree look like an Angel. This really bothered me and I went to my nephew’s school and raised hell.
I didn’t want the teacher to get in trouble since she was 22 or 23 and people make mistakes but I did want her removed from my nephews friends list and a note was sent home to parents about the MySpace page being created.
While some parents did not have an issue with this, I personally did and many others did as well, as no 10 year old should have a MySpace page, especially one that gives them easy access to WebPages of half naked women.
In writing this I also have learned that Social Networks are some of the most blocked websites on the internet. What is also surprising to me, is they are some of the most blocked sites on home networks, not just work and school networks.
Again while Social Networks are great, to keep in touch with friends and relatives, in my opinion MySpace is nothing more than a Dating site and no place for kids. We adults ruined it or was it Rupert Murdoch when he bought it.
Comments: (12)
Chris on Mon, Apr 14th, 2008 at 01:36 AM
I blocked MySpace a year ago when my daughter started using the internet. Also blocked bebo and a few other similar sites.
Dogerfan on Mon, Apr 14th, 2008 at 12:26 PM
my school blocks myspace but my parents dont
websit on Fri, Oct 10th, 2008 at 11:26 PM
I agree with you in that Social Networks are great, to keep in touch with friends and relatives, in my opinion MySpace is nothing more than a Dating site and no place for kids.
Thanks for this great read you shared here
Effec on Wed, Dec 10th, 2008 at 04:03 AM
Great post! I’m just starting out in community management/marketing media and trying to learn how to do it well - resources like this article are incredibly helpful. As our company is based in the US, it’s all a bit new to us.
affilia on Sun, Dec 21st, 2008 at 02:56 AM
I’ve already shared this page with a couple of friends now. Great find!
Myspac on Sun, Dec 28th, 2008 at 02:27 AM
in my opinion, children that are active on social networks should be given a thorough lecture on these matters if we can’t keep a watchful eye on them. Social Networks could bring fun and comfort but it could also spell disaster if misused. good day 
Singlesnet.com on Fri, Sep 25th, 2009 at 09:54 AM
really social network sites are more usefull to find my child hood friends? i moved from my native at the age of 13. now i am 23 . not even a sigle communication between us for these many days . social networking sites bring us altogather.
Singlesnet.com on Fri, Sep 25th, 2009 at 09:59 AM
really social network sites are more usefull to find my child hood friends? i moved from my native at the age of 13. now i am 23 . not even a sigle communication between us for these many days . social networking sites bring us altogather
Singlesnet.com
jodetes on Sun, Nov 08th, 2009 at 12:53 PM
To Block Ocial Networks:
http://www.taringa.net/posts/ebooks-tutoriales/3716751/bloquear-messengers-IMs-y-Redes-Ociales.html
cswatch on Thu, Jan 07th, 2010 at 05:00 AM
in my opinion, children that are active on social networks should be given a thorough lecture on these matters if we can’t keep a watchful eye on them. Social Networks could bring fun and comfort but it could also spell disaster if misused. good day
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Russian Woman on Wed, Feb 03rd, 2010 at 01:17 PM
Social networks helps us to stay in touch with our friends and relatives. But nowadays there too much kids on these sites. I agree that it is a real trouble.
school secretary on Tue, Feb 16th, 2010 at 04:58 PM
what I find humorous about the 10 year olds on myspace at school is that we block those sites at the school for adults that I work at.
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