Who is Playing Online With Your Kids?
Do you know who your children are playing with? Most of us would say yes. But do you know who they are playing with online?
According to the Associated Press, officials in North Carolina say MySpace has found more than 29,000 registered sex offenders with profiles on the popular social networking Web site.
Would you knowingly send your kids out to play, especially unsupervised, with registered sex offenders? Well, if you're kids are on myspace, that's exactly what you're doing.
Myspace rules limit membership to those aged 14 and older. But there are really no procedures in place to ensure that all of those using the site are actually of-age. It relies on self-reporting of the birthdate during initial registration.
What does this mean? It means that there are tons of pre-teens on myspace with profiles indicating they are adults. I've seen them. I know some of them. Yet there they are.
Where are the parents of these kids? Do they know what their kids are doing? Do they care? Do they supervise internet use?
Sure, myspace does bear some responsibility. Fortunately they have deleted the accounts of the 29,000 sex offenders identified. Although I don't know what prevents those offenders from just opening up a new account under an assumed name. (Just like the pre-teens are doing.)
They certainly could do more in identifying those kids who are falsifying their ages. It doesn't take a lot of effort to figure out that the picture of the pre-teen girl in the profile does not correspond to the 30-something age listed.
But these are our children, and the primary responsibility is ours. We need to know what our kids are doing if we allow them to go online. Put the computer in a prominent place in the house so there is no surfing behind closed doors. Put a parental-controls program on your computer. Block chat rooms and social-networking sites. (Your kids can call their real-life friends on the phone if they want to talk!) But most of all, know what they are doing.
We all took on major responsibilities when we had children. It is our duty to keep them safe, happy, and healthy. This includes online. To do otherwise is neglecting your children.
According to the Associated Press, officials in North Carolina say MySpace has found more than 29,000 registered sex offenders with profiles on the popular social networking Web site.
Would you knowingly send your kids out to play, especially unsupervised, with registered sex offenders? Well, if you're kids are on myspace, that's exactly what you're doing.
Myspace rules limit membership to those aged 14 and older. But there are really no procedures in place to ensure that all of those using the site are actually of-age. It relies on self-reporting of the birthdate during initial registration.
What does this mean? It means that there are tons of pre-teens on myspace with profiles indicating they are adults. I've seen them. I know some of them. Yet there they are.
Where are the parents of these kids? Do they know what their kids are doing? Do they care? Do they supervise internet use?
Sure, myspace does bear some responsibility. Fortunately they have deleted the accounts of the 29,000 sex offenders identified. Although I don't know what prevents those offenders from just opening up a new account under an assumed name. (Just like the pre-teens are doing.)
They certainly could do more in identifying those kids who are falsifying their ages. It doesn't take a lot of effort to figure out that the picture of the pre-teen girl in the profile does not correspond to the 30-something age listed.
But these are our children, and the primary responsibility is ours. We need to know what our kids are doing if we allow them to go online. Put the computer in a prominent place in the house so there is no surfing behind closed doors. Put a parental-controls program on your computer. Block chat rooms and social-networking sites. (Your kids can call their real-life friends on the phone if they want to talk!) But most of all, know what they are doing.
We all took on major responsibilities when we had children. It is our duty to keep them safe, happy, and healthy. This includes online. To do otherwise is neglecting your children.
posted by Susan | 9:46 AM
1 Comments:
I know several kids who shouldn't be using MySpace but do and their parents let them. Some of the stuff they put on their pages is just asking for trouble. Scary!
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