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Thursday September 2, 2010
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MySpace.com Minors Restricted?
I am 16 years old and I too have a MySpace........and i am fully aware of what i do and say there. Myspace gives you the option of accepting a friend request, so if someone you don't know wants to be your friend, THEN SAY NO! you don't have to be friends with the entire world! I agree with the people that say some girls WANT older men to be attracted to them. It makes them feel as if they're so good that NO ONE can resist them, not even older men. I believe girls like these need to see a counselor regarding self-esteem issues. If they feel they need to have sexual pervets stalking them in order to feel good about themselves, then it's THEIR fault if something goes wrong. I am a girl too and i know perfectly well what i'm risking myself to by having a myspace account. And so does everyone else. Nobody is FORCED to have a myspace account or to be friends with people they don't know (who just might be sex offenders). for example, if some random guy were to send me a friend request, by accepting it, i know that i am risking having my photos posted on the internet, i am risking getting nastly messages from this user, i am risking everything i have.........and if i decide to accept the friend request despite the risks mentioned above, then if such things would happpen, it would be entirely my fault and responsibility, BECAUSE I RISKED IT. Everything you do, every decision you make, has its risks and consequences..........and i think it's about time we, as teenage myspace users, start realizing that. To some degree I agree with you. But the one FACT that everyone here is missing, even the top dogs at MySpace and Facebook are missing is that IT DOES NOT TAKE A CURRENTLY REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER TO COMMIT A SEX CRIME. Even the people who are currently on the sex offender registry had a time in their lives when they have NO CRIMINAL RECORD. Point being: YOU NEVER KNOW WHO IS GOING TO COMMIT A SEX CRIME AGAINST A MINOR OR AN ADULT. So...that being said...how about a law suit that shuts down ALL social networking sites so that we can stop potential new sex offenses from happening? If a person with a sex offense (of any kind) cannot utilize the internet in this modern era of social sites to keep in touch with their friends and loved ones, then NO ONE ELSE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO EITHER. Let's just take away EVERYONE'S constitutional rights in this FREE country. wow,ive seen some stupid ideas before but this one takes the cake. i mean,really??? why punish the innocent because some guy or woman cant get a woman or guy of legal age? punish the offenders,not everyone else. also,its not always the adults fault. there are teens that lie about their age just so they can get the person in trouble. heres my oppinion. if a girl lies to a guy and says shes...i dont know,18 lets say,and she has sex with someone whos 18 or over,then how can the guy be in trouble? i think the girl should be in trouble in that case cause she lied and said shes older than she actually was. let me say something about the people who had no record and then all of a sudden had a record: did you ever think that some of these ppl didnt have a record before because they didnt want a minor? some of these ppl may have been tricked by an underage,and now they are paying for it and the underage is off scott free for ruining an innocent life. now im not saying all of the ppl are innocent but,i do believe that some of them may be. most of them probably arent though. I have a 16 year old daughter who just started having sex with her 17 year old boyfriend. I have a keylogger on her computer which is why I know this. I have tried to get the text of her text messages and cannot without a court order. I think there should be more laws giving parents better access to their child's cellphone messages, myspace, facebook and whatever other sites there are. I know my daughter has several profiles besides the one where I am on her "friend" list. Kids will always find ways to sneak around but at least give us a fighting chance to know what is going on and who they are communicating with. If all their "chats" and IM's went to the parents computer and parents had to review and approve the content of their profiles maybe some of us would have a chance of preventing undesirable situations. I'm sorry, but as a teen, that is WAY wrong of you. I understand that you want your daughter to be safe. All mothers are like that. But we need privacy. The more privacy you take away, the more kids will act out, without a doubt. If you want to keep your kids out of "undesirable situations", then maybe you should stop being so worried about what they may be doing wrong, and leave them alone a little. If you loosened up, a lot from the sounds of it, and made it to where your kids COULD talk to you, then I guarantee you, you would have barely a thing to worry about. Regardless of what the "statistics" are, I know for a fact that if parents would stop nagging on their kids and invading on their privacy so much, that they WOULDN'T get into so many bad situations, because they wouldn't have to hide so much FROM the parents. Just a thought there. First off I would like to start off by saying that all of these previous comments are correct in one way or another. I have been on both ends of this situation...I was once the one preyed upon...but I was also one of those girls who sneaks around in the chat rooms talking to as many guys as I could. Lets face it... girls are in it for attention and curiousity. They just want to know whats out there. They think that it is safe "oh that would never happen to me...I am smarter than those stupid girls who got sucked into the sex offenders vortex of manipulation". But the truth is that you are not smarter. You are as equally malleable and vulnerable as all those other kids out there. The sole fact that you are doing what you are doing goes to show just how stupid you are. But like I said , I was in that situation...I thought that I was safe. But the fact is that no one is safe on the internet, especially when you are purposely swimming in the shark-infested waters. I too have a myspace account...I too lied about my age because when I first got my account I was too young. I was one of those girls who, although my pictures were not of me half naked, they were more sexually suggestive than they should have been. It wasn't until I started getting all these horrifically disgusting messages from older men. It got so bad that everytime I logged on I would have 20-something messages from men ranging from their 30's to their 40's. Even after I took those photos off they didn't stop! From tthe time that I made my myspace (15) until about 5 months ago....I was being stalked on myspace by perverts. I would block them and they would just make a new account. When myspace finally made changes to their system and made it so that you could block an entire age group I was so relieved. I was basically scared out of my devious ways haha. I apologize, because this is defanitely not a laughing matter. But the truth is that when I look back on my past ...I wonder "what was wrong with me!". But like I stated earlier... kids do it for attention. But like most of the other people have stated previously, the fact that myspace is trying to make changes is good...but it isnt going to stop the sharks out there...the water is still not going to be safe to swim in. SO hey heres a solution.....If you are a boy or girl out there who is doing what I did....please stop. I know that it seems harmless right now..it seems fun...but it isn't. There will come a time when you are going to wonder what the heck you got yourself into...and I hope that by that time it isn't too late. Paulina I agree with you. I am almost sixteen and I have been going to chatrooms since I was about twelve. Of course, my parents didn't even allow me to have a myspace, but I did anyways. I went to chatrooms, like you said, for attention. I am really trying to stop, but it can seem fun. Until the people you're talking to won't leave you alone. I usually use a fake name and city and age. I always tell myself I won't ever go to a chatroom again, but when the opportunity presents itself.... I just get curious about what other people will say and it can seem kind of fun to lead them on if they are interested. But it's a very serious thing. I haven't been to a chatroom in a few months and I hope it stays that way. People might think that staying away from chatrooms is easy-peasy, but it's kind of like a drug or smoking. It's addicting. But, people don't realize the amount of trouble you can get into, not only physically, but emotionally. People might say offensive things, and also if anyone ever finds out about what you are doing it can be serious. You may think you are talking to a hot 20 year old, but in reality, he/she may be 90 years old!! You can find a picture of a good-looking person on the internet and upload it to you social network account and people will believe it's you. They will think they are talking to a hot, sweet, caring person, but they may not be. I know because I made a fake myspace account just to see what would happen. I deleted it about a week after because things got so out of hand. I couldn't believe that people thought the picture was real. But, that goes to show how gullible people can be. I used to think I was beautiful and special when hot guys would talk to me on the internet, but I found out looks can deceiving. Not everyone is as they appear to be. How did this generation get so out of hand? People are having sex as 10 years old or younger. It's a horrible thing. I made that mistake when I was thirteen and I regret it everyday. But, I thought I was "cool" because I did it. When I went back to school people called me a slut and made jokes about me, even my best friend. I lost my virginity and I thought I was going to lose my mind too. But anyways, my point is that you should be careful. You never know who a person actually is. -Please be safe, These young kids need to watch what they are saying on My Space. I was mortified when I was checking my nieces profile and found half naked photos. I told her to take them off. I think parents should be held responsible for their child's actions until they are 18 years of age. If a girl under the age of 17 gets pregnant, shouldn't the parent be charged with child abuse or neglect? I don't think that kids should be allowed to post personal info about themselves without parental consent. You can always tell how old these kids are because they usually have pictures of themselves and their "buds". i think its time that we quit blaming it all on the males! they are starting out as young as 12 yrs. old. They know what they are doing. How many guys go to prison for this and there life is ruined! iT'S STUPID,AND IT'S TIME FOR THE LAWS TO CHANGE.THESE girls are not stupid,and they know what they are doing. They hold all the cards,and can do what they want,and they love it!I sure would not want to be a man in today's world,because women have all the say. WORRIED! your right and even more so when there is no victim only acop pretending to be and talking as gross as the male but when you do not have the money to defend yourself my 21 nephew is facing 10 years and life long megans law I think it’s a pretty good move from MySpace. That way, there would be less profiles for online sexual predators to prey on. While it doesn’t provide a fool-proof plan (as you said, kids can easily change their age on MySpace), it’s a start. that many sex affenders is crazy. So basically you think that only people who have prior convictions of sexual offenses are the ones you need to worry about. Gee, I guess you are another brainwashed fool that doesnt believe in 'a first for everything'. It's funny how you agree a registered sex offender should be kicked off of MySpace yet when you watch Dateline NBC's "To Catch A Predator" what do you see? I'll tell you what I've seen: Preachers, Police officers, a guy who worked for the Dept of Homeland Security and even a DISTRICT ATTORNEY all getting caught for soliciting minors online. So...still wanna say it's ONLY the people ON the sex offender registry that you need to worry about? SHUT DOWN MYSPACE ANS SHUT UP! We have a 15-year old son who is dating a female older than he; we think she's 18 years old, but have yet to confirm her age. Our son met this girl in high school and continues to see her secretive. Evidence has proven that this girl has been in our house without our knowledge or permission and has had sex with our son. We talked to our son about this issue and he denies everything. We talked to our son about our concerns with him seeing an older girl and experiencing adult activities; again, he denies and doesn't want to talk about it. Only recently, our son's cell phone was taken from him for not following the rules of the house. We browsed through his cell phone directory, read many text messages, and found the most disturbing photos of our 15-year old son and this girl completely naked and having sex; she snapped the photos herself. We reported the incident to our family therapist, who in turn is required by law to mandatory report the incident to the authorities, which they did. If this girl is 18, we don't want to ruin her life with an arrest as a convicted felon; however, her illegal involvment with our son MUST stop, and if it continues, we'll then proceed with filing charges. If this girl is not 18, but rather 17, do we have any rights to protect our son against having sex at such a young age of 15? If you stop him from seeing this girl, what about the next? What about when the next one is 19, 20, of legal age and giving him alcohol? The bottom line is that YOU need to educate him about what he should and shouldn't be doing. About the dangers of alcohol, drugs, and unprotected sex. Ruining some girl's life for what children that age see as completely harmless is NOT the way to go. You have to remember that though you see her as 18 and thus an adult, an 18 year old is no more mature than they were at 17. She is still immature and she probably doesn't realize that what she's doing is really that harmful. To be honest, you need to not be scaring or threatening your son, but educating him. I still remember that age and the more your parents press things in the wrong way, the more you want to defy them. You need to talk the time to talk to him and make him understand. gettin in your sons life will make him misrable. Honestly, you have to make HIM understand, not punish her. One. Why does it seem as if the media and state legislature is saying that all teens act this way. There are smart people, smart people who do stupid things, ignorant people, naive people, and everyone else in between. They make it seem as if teen girls are being preyed upon. What about the ones that make myspaces to post half naked pictures of themselves or intentionally lie about their age to talk to older men. Two. You can lie about your age on myspace so this plan is faulty and already has a thousand holes in it. Three. The public websites about registered sex offenders and their myspaces were great ideas. Then again, they can lie about who they are too. I think it’s a pretty good move from MySpace. That way, there would be less profiles for online sexual predators to prey on. While it doesn’t provide a fool-proof plan (as you said, kids can easily change their age on MySpace), it’s a start. Parents need to wake up and stop demanding that everyone BUT them babysit their kids! However, what about all the twits that are oline looking for guys to flirt with, no one wants to go there huh? well, its happening. And will some of you stop using "textspeak", show some intelligence and TYPE words correctly. Kudos to the title heading "This Topic"!! Believe me people, these girls do exist. They lie about their age, dress far too provocitively and are out there soliciting older men. In the end this can ruin somebody's life completely. Now don't get me wrong, I too believe children should be protected from any kind of sicko who poses a threat to them, either online OR offline but lets go here with this person for a minute. What laws are out there protecting men from teens who are stalking the internet as well?? This kind of thing is happening every single day (without concenquences or repercussions) and can happen to ANYBODY using such sites as myspace, online dating, chats, etc. Bottom line, it all starts at home so know what your kids are doing. If us as parents aren't doing our job then who will, some law?? If you believe that then please open your eyes, turn on your listening ears and refer back to the top of this posting. I agree that u should wait till u r older but if you want to do it and think it's right then go ahead. All u have to do is be careful use and protection. Parents should also be cautioned by not only what the adults are doing, but what their children are doing on MySpace as well. Thirteen year olds are dressing like 20 year old hookers because they think that it is what is "in" now. If a parent is going to let them dress that way, then they should not only be taking into their hands the fate of the perverts out there, but the fact that their own child is part of the problem. But the inadequacy of the naive realistic and positivistic views competing with Kant to-day automatically forces the manner of putting the question in the direction in which Kant had started. That many sex offenders on my space is crazy. I am gald that my space is up to date with the registered sex offenders list Educate parents on what their kids are doing. Open dialogs with your kids about what they do and who they give information to on the internet. I am a MySpace user and it blows me away the types of personal information people divuldge online for the entire world to see. Most of the time it's the younger crowd. Or maybe a perv posing as the younger crowd. Who knows... but I think the power to change it starts with the users themselves. Post new comment |
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This is indeed a grave danger given birth by the technology. Many people have been victimized from social networking sites, and Myspace.com is also one of them. This is really sad that people use the freedom of technologies for wrong purposes instead of using for good and beneficial purpose. We should be more cautious about our kids about using these kind of social networking site.