 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
By Korie Wilkins PUBLISHED: March 6, 2006 What, exactly, are teens doing when they spend so much time on
the Internet? "Everyone has a MySpace account," said Chelsea Warner, 15, of Waterford Township. "It's the cool thing to have. All of my friends were talking about it, and when I went there I liked it." While Chelsea's parents, Shaun and Dawn Warner, monitor her usage -- and the usage of her four siblings -- other teenagers use the site without their parents knowing what they are up to. A quick search for teenagers in the area turned up MySpace pages with explicit photos or tales of drinking and drug use. While the vast majority of sites seemed harmless and anonymous, there were enough intensely personal ones to make any parent cringe. "No teenager needs a MySpace account," said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who has been speaking out against the site in recent weeks. "Why take the risk? There are so many predators out there, looking for teenagers." What is MySpace.com? About 25 percent of MySpace's more than 50 million users registered as teens. The site, which is free and makes money from advertising, started out as a way to learn about new music and bands but quickly grew into a phenomenon, with thousands of people signing up and logging on. There are sites for television shows and cartoon characters. It's used as a way to reconnect with old friends and find new ones. Teenagers such as Ashley Warner, 16, say it's addictive to learn about the people around you: What they like, what they think about and what they do. Ashley uses the site sporadically and talks with classmates, a cousin in Florida and a friend who recently moved to the East Coast. She also uses it for homework help. Her own site is open to friends only, and she doesn't mind if her parents regularly check it out. "It's fun to use," she said. "It really caught on fast at school." A recent search of MySpace.com for current students at Troy Athens High School resulted in 584 hits. Some of the students openly talked about sexuality and drug and alcohol use. Others posted their places of employment while some talked about their after-school activities. One girl, who was particularly candid in describing herself, wrote that she doesn't accept unsolicited e-mails or chat invitations. "I love making new friends but not from the Internet," she wrote. "I don't meet random people off the Internet." A 16-year-old blonde wrote that she likes country music and hanging out with her friends and hopes to go to college one day. Her name, hometown, high school and after-school job were posted on the Internet, for anyone to see. Finding her would be easy for her friends, and a potential predator could also catch up with the high school junior. MySpace and other sites like it -- including Xanga and Facebook -- have spread like wildfire among teenagers. Young people liken it to a virtual community, where they can hang out, chat and find like-minded friends. Many believe it's harmless, although some have taken measures to make their sites private. Experts say the dangers are very real and parents should closely monitor their child's postings. Myspace.com is even the epicenter of a teacher suspension case at Lakeview High School. A teacher has been placed on a paid leave of absence while officials investigate a student-produced video about the danger of the Internet. The video made reference to sexual activity and showed teens at parties with alcohol and girls dressed in bikinis. The video was aired on the school's internal cable system during morning announcements last week. The video was an attempt to show the consequences of posting personal information on the Internet via sites like Myspace.com. Online dangers Bouchard and experts say the site is a veritable shopping mall for predators. "Children don't understand that people they meet on the Internet aren't always who they seem to be," Bouchard said. "The real dangers need to be explained." One of four children using the Internet will be approached by a predator, Bouchard said. According to statistics from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, more than 2,600 incidents of adults using the Internet to entice children were reported last year. When teens post provocative photographs and content on their pages, experts say that just opens the door for exploitation. "The vast majority of parents have no idea what's out there," Bouchard said. Chelsea Warner said she's seen pages with racy or explicit content but tries to keep her page pretty anonymous and private. She and her siblings say they don't understand why some people post racy photos or comments. They work hard to keep their sites off-limits to outsiders and have been schooled by their father, Shaun Warner, about the importance of not talking to strangers. "I don't let anyone on it that I don't know," she said. "If there's something I don't want people to know, I just leave it off." Bouchard said that just because someone with a MySpace says they don't want to meet strangers doesn't mean that strangers won't try to meet them. When teenagers post their schedules and workplaces -- and even their addresses and phone numbers -- that makes it easier for those with less-than-honorable intentions to get to teens. "Once it's posted, it's public," he said. "Teenagers may think that it's private or that no one but a friend is watching, but that's simply not true." Shaun Warner said he keeps a close eye on the computer, which is in a public area of the house. While he's not too worried about MySpace -- he thinks it is a passing fad -- he is worried about the hours his children spend on the Internet. "They can be on it for three, four, five hours at a time," said Warner, dean of students at Waterford's alternative high school. "I think there are other things they could be doing." Detective Lt. Jim Wolf of the Michigan State Police said the site is like a diary, except it's posted for all the world to see. His own daughter, 14, had a page on the site that he made her take down. Wolf said he was uncomfortable with her having a spot in cyberspace. "A predator knows exactly where to look," he said. On the prowl Predators, in some parts of the country, have been preying on MySpace users. As many as seven teenage girls in Connecticut were sexually assaulted by men in their 20s whom they met on the site. The men were apparently pretending to be teens. Earlier this year, a 14-year-old girl, Judy Cajuste, was found strangled and naked in a New Jersey garbage bin. Police seized a computer from her bedroom after friends said she told them of a man in his 20s she met on MySpace. Her death remains unsolved. Wolf said that recently, in the Kalamazoo area, a 15-year-old girl ran off with a man she met on MySpace. She was found safe in Kentucky, he said. In addition to becoming potential victims of bullies or pedophiles, children might not realize that the content they post today could come back to haunt them in the future. Tales of wild sex or drinking binges could turn off a future employer or college recruiter. School officials say that a student seen drinking in photos on the Internet could be kicked off a sports team. Last month, two Dearborn High School students were charged after threatening to shoot other students at their school in a MySpace posting. "We haven't had a huge issue with it here, but we were shocked at how many kids were using the site," said Clarkston school district spokeswoman Anita Banach. She said the issue of students getting caught using drugs or alcohol through Internet postings hasn't come up yet, but she said students could face sanctions. The district blocks students from using MySpace and similar sites at school, she said. "We expect that someday the situation might arise," she said. "We don't think kids should have so much private time on the computer." A group of teenagers in Troy -- already in trouble for underage drinking -- landed in even more hot water after posting photos of partying and profanity-laced taunts directed at an Oakland County district judge. Earlier this year, Troy District Judge Michael Martone found the Web site. Martone had sentenced several Troy Athens High School students for underage drinking last spring. The students, now in college, had posted the pictures and taunts on a personal Web site. Some of the students, who had violated their previous sentences, were given jail time. "We've heard a lot of complaints by parents about MySpace and other sites," said Ann Comiskey, executive director of the Troy Community Coalition. "A lot of people are concerned. It seems very unsafe. We're looking at ways to help the community out with this, because it's growing and there are a lot of issues." MySpace is just the latest Internet site to draw fire and ire from parents, teachers and police. A few years ago, chat rooms were all over the news, and tales of teenagers talking to anonymous people on the Web surfaced. In recent months, Bouchard and other officials have been speaking out on the issue of Internet safety, specifically about MySpace. He's held several forums for parents and will offer more in the future. Education, officials say, is the key to preventing tragedy. "Parents need to be more computer savvy," he said. "They need to know what their children are doing on line." Officials from MySpace could not be reached for comment. But on the site, the company lists numerous safety tips, including a ban on users under age 14. The site said if it discovers that users are under age 14, it will delete the user's profile. It also warns against posting identifiable information, like a name, address or phone number. The site also warns that online friends should never replace real-life friends. "No matter how often you have chatted with someone or how much you think you know about them, you never really know who you are chatting with online. That cute 21-year-old guy may not be cute, may not be 21 and may not be a guy!" Another warning MySpace users need to heed is that being online doesn't make you anonymous. People can use the Internet to uncover the personal information of people who might believe they are using the Web anonymously. Wolf said parents are the first line of defense. In addition to monitoring their child's Internet activities, Wolf said parents need to teach their children that they don't live in a sterile bubble and that there are people out there who will hurt them. Teens have long thought they were invincible, he said. "They're in their own house on their own computer," he said. "They think they are protected. We raise our kids to not talk to strangers, but online they do anyway. And they chat a little while and they don't think that person is a stranger anymore. "What people need to understand is, there are dangers out there. Parents need to protect their children."
|
