MySpace: Fun or Danger?

Everyone of my friends has a Myspace page. My best friend is the one who finally got me to get a page of my own. Its great:hook up your page with your own graphics, pictures, songs, and the like. Thousands of web sites are dedicated to layouts and different things to put on your page. Just Google Myspace graphics and see how much comes up, its amazing. I have met many new friends, and reconnected with old ones, via my Myspace page. So whats the big deal?

Sexual predators, that is. Teenagers using myspace to meet new people without fully checking them out first. Older men who prey on young girls and young teens. There are many dangers of the Internet, and many people now think that Myspace has become almost a sexual playground for predators.

You can certainly see why. Browse through the profiles of the younger girls, and see just how many are acting like something they shouldn't be. So many have profiles about drinking, drugs and sex, and they are barely out of middle school, or often still in. Scantily clad young girls post extremely provocative, many X-rated, pictures of themselves on their site. With captions like "sexy" and "my booty", it invites men from all over the internet to view them.

What many girls don't realize is that so many men on the net are NOT who they claim to be. Anyone can create a profile and fabricate the whole thing, claiming to be someone they are not. Any 45 year old man can post pictures of some young and handsome 17 year old boys' picture that he stumbled across, and then claim to be him. They can then prey on the younger girls, who are so often very naive and trusting, get her to trust them ,and then meet up with them for God-knows-what.

So what's a parent to do? Well, we need to monitor our children's online activity. Alot of parents have their own myspace page, and keep their child as a "friend", that way they are able to view who is on their child's page, and the comments that are left to them. Computers in the family household should always be left out in the open, such as the family room, so that no online secrets can be kept. Most of all, talk to your children about the dangers of Myspace, especially your girls. They need to know to be aware of the danger out there, and not to trust just anyone that they think is safe. Talk, even if they don't seem to want to listen. Chances are, they are.