Post: MySpace Slurs Get Teen in Trouble With Middle School
MySpace Slurs Get Teen in Trouble With Middle School
A California school district is trying to expel a student who used the popular teen networking site MySpace to spread threats and anti-Semitic slurs against a female classmate. The district has also suspended 20 of the boy's friends for viewing the post. Read the full story here
School districts and law enforcement agencies have raised greater and greater concerns about MySpace in the past few months. Not only has MySpace played a role in cyber-bullying incidents, as in the situation described above, but it's been implicated in cases of predatory sexual behavior as well. These concerns have led MySpace's parent company, News Corp., to start increasing safety standards on the site.
MySpace and similar networking sites have become a real dilemma for parents. We've provided some of our advice on how to manage MySpace in this Common Sense View, but we want to know what you think about the site and the issues surrounding it. Use our comments section, and let us know how you deal with your kids' MySpace use, or what issues you've encounted with teen networking sites.
There are 1 replies to this post
Date: March 5, 2006
Nearly everyone I know, including myself, is on Myspace. The biggest problem with Myspace is that kids don't carry what we teach them about "strangers" over to the computer. Too many kids put their full names on their myspace profiles and list the schools and job places. That alone is too much information for the general public.
MySpace is a wonderful way to start connected with friends. And I laugh at some rumors about "banning" the site. Would you ban all people from your own neighborhood simply because you had a bad run in with one individual?
Teach your kids what information to keep "a secret" from strangers, in real life and on the internet. Teach them how to prevent and deal with problems on their own while they're still young.