More Info on MySpace

A while back I posted A word about MySpace.com which has been one of the more popular posts in our archives — thank you all. The media attention on MySpace continues to build, and way too much of it is sensationalistic hyping of the dire threat it poses to teens.

What rubbish. MySpace is OK. Being a teenager involves risks, with or without MySpace.

Dipping my oar in the waters again, and trying to move the debate a little closer to sanity, here are two articles about MySpace that attempt to put it in a context that will be familiar to clueless parents who might otherwise be prone to the hysteria.

First up is a short FAQ from the folks at Wired: A MySpace Cheat Sheet for Parents that offers calm answers to the following questions

• Can I search MySpace to see if my kid is on it?…
• I did it anyway. Should I be worried that my teenage girl is linked to so many male "friends?"…
• What if she's linking to adult men? That can't be good.…
• How should I talk to them about MySpace?…
• What is MySpace doing to protect its users?…

Next I recommend checking out this recent post on Boing Boing: Why kids are on MySpace

danah boyd has published an excellent paper on the hows and whys of the explosive growth of teen users of MySpace, the most popular social networking site ever. boyd, a high-tech social scientist who has an excellent track-record for winkling out the important truths behind social uses of tech. Her clear-eyed work on MySpace talks about the youth-liberation aspects of the service as well as the response, situating in history.

The Boing Boing post links to Boyd's full paper, which I also recommend. Hopefully both of these posts will help calm down any anxious parents out there.

In spite of their advice, I do think it is perfectly OK for parents to search MySpace and read their kid's profiles and their kid's friend's profiles, as long as they are willing to respect their child's independence and not make a big deal out of normal teenage exploration. But I do urge parents to give their kids a wide berth on MySpace. So much of a teen's life is regulated, scrutinized, and restricted these days that they really need a place to hang out without the reproach of adults.

Think of your own teenage years, your own juvenile recklessness, and your need for some privacy and independence from your parents before clamping down on what you as a parent might perceive as risky on-line behaviour. It is their space. It is their hang-out. They know about the creeps and the pervs and how to protect themselves. Cut 'em some slack. (But keep your eyes and ears open, just in case.)