During dinner on Wednesday dad, Jud and I somehow stumbled across the topic of My Space. It wasn’t long before my dad and I had created a phony account and were surfing around in there, finding people from all walks of our lives (Maybe not all walks because dad did attempt to find people who went to his high school and graduated with him. So far, the class of 74 has yet to jump into the My Space world…at least openly).
Those pages totally freak me out, and I am not just talking about the pages where the children I used to babysit are now proclaiming their gangsta image through rap video links and nicknames, or their princess-ness through the scrolling pink text that makes the bile come up when I read their friends’ skanky comments. It’s more the total lack of anonymity coupled with the rising rates of crime stemming from Internet interactions.
– Some of the friends we found had listed phony address information, but it is not hard to figure out where they really are when they are friends with people from only one place.
– Some of the friends had pages that I could not see because I was not their friend, which in my estimation, alluded to parental knowledge of their site and hopefully a lot of parental involvement in what is posted and bulletined.
– Some of their friends had left phone numbers.
– Some of them had sketchy people as friends.
Most of the ones we could see included profanity and ridiculousness that any college recruiter, HR Manager, family member or old babysitter could find all by typing in their name.
In light of the fear and the sadness from checking out this site, here are Kim’s Rules for My Space:
1. Assume your page will be frequented by people who will attempt to do you harm, should they find you.
2. Never post pictures of yourself that will entice people to post things like U R Hottttt.
3. Do not, under any circumstances, include pictures of yourself with drugs or alcohol.
4. Take down that list of things about yourself…”Do you like brown hair or blondes?” “Tea or Coffee?” It’s kind of equivalent to the question “Would you like to be strangled or stabbed?” because that is what is going to happen to you when the psycho people who troll this site looking for people on which to prey record all of your known information and then contact you and say things like “wow, we have so much in common. maybe we should meet in person.”
Maybe all of my leeriness has something to do with the public services announcements and episodes of Punky Brewster I watched in the 80s. There was one about how you should never wear a shirt with your name on it because one time this grown man was all trying to convince a little kid that he knew who she was because he worked with her mom and he knew her name, so she almost went with him. Meanwhile, my little heart was pounding because I KNEW he was a bad man. LITTLE GIRL! Your last name is on the back of your jersey in big block letters and your first name is all scrolly on the front! Why don’t you remember that and why don’t you just yell FIRE already!?!
Recently the Fox News website featured a dating segment with two young people who went on three dates for the purpose of writing about them. Date 1 – Blind Dates, set up by their friends. Date 2 – Speed Dating. Date 3 – Internet Dating. The girl didn’t use an internet dating site, but went out with a guy she met through my space. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I’m guessing she got in touch with the friend of hers who was actually friends with him, but it’s still scary to me. My Space dating. Or My Space flying around the world to meet my Palestinian boyfriend when I am only 14. This of course only happened because kids are so responsible and need their freedom and all.
Yesterday they announced new ‘security’ for My Space. It is supposed to keep adults from having minor friends. That’s good because pedophiles have absolutely no experience in lying. It would be very difficult for them to create a profile with a birthdate like 6/22/1990.
Good thinking, Rupert Murdoch! Thanks for keeping our kids safe.
Parents: There’s now no reason to keep your computer in a public area and install Be Safe or some tracking software! My Space will parent your children for you!
Glad we avoided that erosion of society. It was a close one!
Yet another good post Kim – MySpace is stinkin scary that’s for sure, or at least in the way it’s primarily being used. Last night I watched another episode of Dateline with the “Perverted Justice” crew where they set up these online predators and then arrest them when they arrive at what they think is a minor’s home…totally freaky and just one example of how sites like myspace can be extremely dangerous. Yikes.