What IS Happening on MySpace?

What's the difference between theory and practice? (Read on for the answer...)

A new book is out, called "MySpace Unraveled: A Parent’s Guide to Teen Social Networking". Written by CBS News technology analyst Larry Magrid, and NetFamilyNews.org editor Anne Collier, it comes with a good pedigree. And no doubt is worth the read. I haven’t read it yet, but I caught an excerpt published at CBSNews.com on September 7th.

The article/excerpt illustrates some very important concepts that adults need to understand about MySpace. It’s a place of identity exploration, community, fun, and typical teenage hijinks. All true, and all, realistically, an inescapable part of the teenage experience.

And it’s more than that - it’s a training ground for kids who are growing up in a world where social networking will be a fundamental part of their lives.

The article goes on to cite the necessity for parents to examine MySpace from a kid’s perspective. I heartily agree. Until you get it into your head just what it is your child is doing and feeling and getting from their MySpace experience, you are doomed to fail in grappling with the deeper issues that lurk there.

Finally, the article talks about MySpace being like a modern version of the malt shop. Kids doing things in front of kids, oblivious to the outside world. “The more things change, the more they stay the same”, offer the authors. They say MySpace is “today’s fear of choice”, comparing it to rock-n-roll of the 50’s, pot-smoking in the 60’s, etc. “Today’s young people will survive this new ‘threat’”, say the authors.

Of course they will.

But all the theory of how social networking is a fundamental part of their future, and how identity experimentation is fundamental to their development, and how kids will always find ways to express themselves in ways that make their parents blush…All that must be contrasted with a reality check.

Within the same week, I found the following articles:

Principal Blames MySpace for Fights
ANNAPOLIS, MD -- September 12 -- Taunting on a popular teen Web site fueled the spate of violence at Annapolis High last week that put nearly 20 students in handcuffs, the school's principal said last night.

Donald Lilley told the school Parent-Teacher-Student Organization that insults flowed through social networking site MySpace.com over the summer and fanned tensions that spilled into the school from three public housing projects.
Those tensions turned into violence when students from the Robinwood, Newtowne 20 and Annapolis Gardens neighborhoods returned to class two weeks ago.


CHS Teens Charged with Beating Found on MySpace.com Remain in Custody
BAKERSFIELD, CA -- September 13 -- Five teens remain in Juvenile Hall on charges they beat a Centennial High School student, videotaped the attack, and then published it on the Internet site Myspace.com.
The five teens were arrested once detectives obtained the videotape of them beating another teen girl.

Deputy District Attorney Cindy Norris said the assault on Myspace.com is severe.
“In my opinion,” Norris said, “it’s one of the worst assaults I’ve ever seen on videotape.”


Police: MySpace Fight Involved 150 People
VIRGIL TOWNSHIP, IL -- September 6 -- They logged on looking for a party, but they got a fight.
Police are investigating Wednesday a weekend brawl in Virgil Township some say was set up through MySpace.com. It involved as many as 150 people.


Warning for Anyone Using myspace.com
GRAPEVINE, TX – September 14 -- A warning tonight for parents. Why it's important to know what your children are up to on the internet….

Police in Grapevine, Texas are searching for a man who reportedly tried to lure a teenager out of her home this past weekend. They believe her page on Myspace.com, loaded with personal information, may have led the stranger to her home.


Porn and bullying common on MySpace and Bebo, says Which?
LONDON, UK -- September 14 -- Popular social networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo are putting children at risk of online bullying and inadvertently exposing them to pornography and unsuitable advertising, the consumer affairs magazine Which? has warned.

This comes after Computing Which? set up an account pretending to be a 14-year-old and found "numerous examples" of pornography, bullying and unsuitable advertising on the site, which allows users to create their own web pages, chat to friends and share photographs.

The adult researcher who set up a MySpace account as a teenager was able to do so without proving age or identity. The sites claim to monitor uploaded images, but researchers came across pornographic photographs on both "within minutes".


Study shows too much 'sex' on Myspace.com
FRESNO, CA – September 15
A new study reveals the ‘sexier’ and more dangerous side of Myspace.com.
A Fresno State professor studied 700 myspace.com web pages to discover more than half of users surveyed had some kind of sexual content on their individual pages.

In fact, she says the worst content was found on the younger users sites. She found sexual material on 71% of pages belonging to 14 and 15 year olds.


So, what’s happening on MySpace? What are YOUR kids doing? And who are they being influenced by?

The authors of "MySpace Unraveled" give a nod to proper parenting and the reality that content on MySpace can live on forever. But unless the rest of the book steps down from the theoretical benefits of MySpace, and wrestles with its gritty reality, I’m afraid it all comes down to:

What’s the difference between theory and practice? Of course. “In theory, there’s NO difference.”

We have to live with “practice”. And so do our kids.