While MySpace can have a seriously empowering impact on our kids, there’s also a seedy side of the social networking site that should prompt parents to pay close attention to their children’s presence online. MySpace and Facebook are rather like the wild west of the Internet. And can easily be a mirror image of what goes on inside the mind of a teen or young adult user who seeks out others who may feel or experience the same sort of things that teens usually experience – i.e., trouble fitting in, curiosity of sex and drugs, or even just people who like the same things they do. Trouble is, that predators and purveyors of porn know this and can use social networking sites as a net for potential victims.
Does this mean that because of a negative element, parents should prohibit their children from joining social networking sites like MySpace? Far from it. Recent studies show that joining and participating in social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook can not only give children valuable social and technological skills, but that these SN sites can actually level the playing field for children from lower income families who find it a hard time to technologically “keep up with the Joneses.” And using a few simple steps can not only protect kids on MySpace, but give parents a peace of mind as to what their kids do and don’t do online.
Parents should first never assume that they’re kids are playing the rules and only going online when the parent knows about it. Often times, they’re on in spite of a parent’ wishes. President Ronald Reagan had an old axiom “trust, yet verify.” Protect your kids by verifying that their Internet usage is both appropriate and constructive. To do this, parents can install key loggers or even hardware based archivers which can chronicle, and even regulate online usage. Children may object to this, but communication from the very beginning can help a child understand that the parent is seeking to protect them, not control them.
Understand though, that today’s kids are growing up in the digital age and chances are, they know more about technology than you do. As such, many kids have become the family’s de-facto tech support. This usually means that kids can work around any attempts to find out what they’re up to. They can create more than one profile, or disable any software or hardware if they really don’t want mom and dad to know what they’re doing. While technology can help guard your children from the undesirable aspects of an online life, they certainly shouldn’t be solely relied upon as a baby sitter.
And easy way to keep a child’s activities out in the open is to make sure your computers are located in a central location to make it both easy to monitor and more difficult for a teen to pull the wool over a parent’s eyes. But understand this. Most kids, when pressed about whether they have a MySpace presence may simply lie about it and say they don’t.
Finally, talk to your kids about MySpace. Be honest. Have an account yourself. Talk about the benefits of social networking and caution against the negative aspects.
Using a multi-faceted approach can not only let your kids enjoy the benefits of social networking sites like MySpace, it can give you piece of mind knowing. After all, knowledge is power.
