Myspace.com: Not Your Child's Babysitter
I recently read an article about a 16-year-old girl who jetted off to the Middle East to meet a man she had met through Myspace. Needless to say, her mother was mortified and had no idea what she was up too. Yet, as the story said, her mother had helped the young girl get her passport recently under the guise she was going on a two-week trip to Canada with a friend’s family. When she went to drop her daughter off at the bus stop for this adventure, the family wasn’t there, and it was only then did the mother think to call the family and found out that there was no trip. The next day her daughter disappeared from their home and was consequently detained in Amman, when I’m suspecting authorities found it strange that she traveling alone.
First of all I find it absurd that the mother would so willingly assist her daughter in getting a passport with presumption she was going with another family to Canada, without first CONTACTING the family to verify the trip. I mean really, she didn’t contact the family until they were a no show at the bus station. Congratulations ma’am you win the BIMBO MOTHER OF THE YEAR AWARD. You should be ashamed of yourself.
This leads to me thoughts on Myspace.com and how it has become a virtual playground of teens gone wild. I find this site completely fascinating because it plays into the voyeuristic tendencies of all who use it. You can literally follow someone’s social life and that of their friends. What is fascinating to me is how open teens are with what they’re doing, who they’re doing, and where they’re doing it. Pictures of parties complete with drugs and alcohol, open and explicit discussion of their sexual encounters, etc. Now trust me, I was no angel in high school. I did my fair share of drugs and drinking but it would never occur to me to post pictures for all to see, especially my parents. Any illegal drugs I may have had were carefully hidden in ingenious places (like my record covers…yes we had “records” in those days). Phone discussions of parties or other mayhem were discussed in hush whispers while sitting in the closet. I made sure the only image my parents knew of me was the all-American jock. But today’s youth are arrogant, reckless and filled with a level of cockiness that it’s really obnoxious.
And where are their parents? Are they not monitoring these sites and that of their friends? I know for a fact my mother used to search my room, I can only imagine what she’d do if I had a Myspace account back in the day. I’m always astounded when you read articles about how older men have been on Myspace pretending to be a teen in an attempt to lure some girl to an illicit meeting. Inevitably the story will include a statement that the parent’s “had no idea little Debbie had a Myspace page.” The story will also usually include some statement about how bad Myspace is and how it creates the environment to allow such things to happen. Well, let me just say, it is not Myspace’s responsibility to police the behavior of our youth. I think that comes with being a parent. Myspace cannot and should not be held accountable for the bad behavior of those who use it.
We live in a generation where no one wants to take responsibility for his or her actions. It’s always someone else’s fault. “The school system didn’t teach my child”…”Society let Bobby down and that’s why he joined a gang”…”Myspace is responsible for my daughter running off to meet an older man.” How about this….how about if parents start being parents and pay attention to what their children are doing, who they are doing, and where they are doing it? Until that happens we will continue to have generations of children who do not learn that there are consequences for their actions and sometimes those consequences are severe. Be a parent and stop holding everyone else responsible for what is ultimately your responsibility. I, for one, am tired of seeing you point fingers at everyone else.
First of all I find it absurd that the mother would so willingly assist her daughter in getting a passport with presumption she was going with another family to Canada, without first CONTACTING the family to verify the trip. I mean really, she didn’t contact the family until they were a no show at the bus station. Congratulations ma’am you win the BIMBO MOTHER OF THE YEAR AWARD. You should be ashamed of yourself.
This leads to me thoughts on Myspace.com and how it has become a virtual playground of teens gone wild. I find this site completely fascinating because it plays into the voyeuristic tendencies of all who use it. You can literally follow someone’s social life and that of their friends. What is fascinating to me is how open teens are with what they’re doing, who they’re doing, and where they’re doing it. Pictures of parties complete with drugs and alcohol, open and explicit discussion of their sexual encounters, etc. Now trust me, I was no angel in high school. I did my fair share of drugs and drinking but it would never occur to me to post pictures for all to see, especially my parents. Any illegal drugs I may have had were carefully hidden in ingenious places (like my record covers…yes we had “records” in those days). Phone discussions of parties or other mayhem were discussed in hush whispers while sitting in the closet. I made sure the only image my parents knew of me was the all-American jock. But today’s youth are arrogant, reckless and filled with a level of cockiness that it’s really obnoxious.
And where are their parents? Are they not monitoring these sites and that of their friends? I know for a fact my mother used to search my room, I can only imagine what she’d do if I had a Myspace account back in the day. I’m always astounded when you read articles about how older men have been on Myspace pretending to be a teen in an attempt to lure some girl to an illicit meeting. Inevitably the story will include a statement that the parent’s “had no idea little Debbie had a Myspace page.” The story will also usually include some statement about how bad Myspace is and how it creates the environment to allow such things to happen. Well, let me just say, it is not Myspace’s responsibility to police the behavior of our youth. I think that comes with being a parent. Myspace cannot and should not be held accountable for the bad behavior of those who use it.
We live in a generation where no one wants to take responsibility for his or her actions. It’s always someone else’s fault. “The school system didn’t teach my child”…”Society let Bobby down and that’s why he joined a gang”…”Myspace is responsible for my daughter running off to meet an older man.” How about this….how about if parents start being parents and pay attention to what their children are doing, who they are doing, and where they are doing it? Until that happens we will continue to have generations of children who do not learn that there are consequences for their actions and sometimes those consequences are severe. Be a parent and stop holding everyone else responsible for what is ultimately your responsibility. I, for one, am tired of seeing you point fingers at everyone else.
posted by Chatty Cathy at 8:38 PM
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