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189 Comments
- pianodude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10MySpace should be banned at school. There is no reason any student needs to visit MySpace during school or on school-district owned equipment. These kids are at school...can't they chat with friends in person? For many teens, school is the only time they get a chance to see some of their friends. Save MySpace browsing for home.
I disagree with saying that MySpace is "everybody's nightmare." MySpace is a valid social networking website; however, it can be abused when people decide to post their intimate lives. - nymphetamine, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11this whole myspace problem is just another case of parents not being parents.
- shrapnull, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7To quote: "Just another case of parents not being parents"
What a crock of *****...
I AM a school district sysadmin (k12) for a VERY large district (100,000+), and I DO have myspace blocked, not because of some power trip or anything, but BECAUSE parents called and said their children weren't permitted at home, and they didn't want them on it at school.
Kids have no reason to be on myspace at school. You want a socialize learn some social skills and make friends with people around you. Save the crappy html and friends lists for home where you can be policed (or not) by your own parents. Teachers are NOT babysitters! If your parents object, they will demand that I block it for everyone and leave the debate at home. This goes for lots of things.
Myspace has a lot of bad press being directed at ADULTS. Kids don't do anything to quell the press, therefore, it gets a bad rap and gets blocked. You have a personal concern, take it up with your sysadmin, and be sure to leave an email address to reply to you (and yes if you cuss him out via the filter messages system, he does know who you are and it's up to him not to decide to suspend you for it). - TKDWILSON, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Myspace isn't something for highschools.
Eric Wilson - sandrat44, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4For all you parents (myself included), don't you keep tabs on what the kids are up to? Let's be real here. If not MySpace, then the mall, or school, or a friend's house, or... myriad other places kids could do whatever they want to. You try to get a grip on it and they find ways to slip right through your fingers.
As with everything, there's a good way to use it and a bad way. With a lot of arguments against MySpace being voiced here, one would have to conclude that driving cars should be banned by teens, they should not have access to money, or ever set foot out of the house (sounds extreme, doesn't it?)
When you teach your kid to drive, you teach them how to drive the right way. You're not out there over their sholder to see how they drive when you are not there. Same with MySpace and any other internet based social networking. Show them the proper way to use it, respect their space, but let them know who's the boss. Teach them how to make choices that will not get them in trouble. If they don't trust you enough to be open about the choices they are making or about to make, then MySpace is not the only problem you have!
It can very tough reaching that level of trust, to me that is what on of the "hard" parts of parenting is, being who I want my kid to be, and spending time with my kid to establish that trusting relationship and letting them know that when I say "No" I mean "No". - benig, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5My mom is an elementary school teacher, as well as the director of technology there, and she has been going on and on about my space. Parents _need_ to know about this site, and since they don't, schools need to let parents know about it. It's a valid social networking site, but children and teenagers have taken hold of it and abused it. Apparently, kids are posting illicit pictures of themselves, hazing other students, planning to meet people they don't know. The owners of My Space have been incredibly irresponsible.
So yeah. Schools need to ban this site, and parents need to keep their kids off of it. - luma, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5It's already been said but it bears repeating - I can't see any valid use for MySpace while at school. I don't think it's at all inappropriate to block it at schools, as anybody who has ever had the misfortune of going to myspace can attest to the fact that the educational content is hovering around 0.
The schools spend a lot of money (taxpayers money) on expensive equipment and bandwidth to provide internet access for educational purposes. If you want to "hang out online", do it on your own time and your parent's dollar, not mine. - UGM2099, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3In my day they blamed rap music and gangs.
- sandrat44, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I know.... it's as hard as trying to understand the latest hip-hop or rap! I feel more comfortable listening to 80's, or classical music, but do try to learn about these new "coded" languages! I feel the learning is important.
When I was a kid, we had our own slang and jibes we used with our friends. But, in the house mom made it known that when we spoke in the house, we spoke the "right way" (her way - she was an english instructor at the university... bummer, sorry mom... darn).
So, IMHO, I say establish you expectations with your kids (for those who have kids), and then backoff, and observe them exploring their world, with their understanding that you are there to help them if they want it, if you are expecting them to respect your ways and others then show them some respect. Only jump in and intervene if they ask for it or if it will get them or others killed, injured, or runs against the law (at home I also add: if it's too loud, LOL! ooops LOQ...).
For the most part, most teachers do a good job of establishing expectations. Like I commented before, however, fitting something like MySpace and it's potential for educational collaboration, takes time, new guidelines have to be established, and it can be hard with the current tight budget and other expectations (such as "No Child Left Behind" and standard testing) to find a good way to do it right.
I've got nephew's and a niece who attend school, and their mom has done a good job making sure they talk our language. But when it's just me and them, I let them tell me about what's on their mind and... wow... there is so much more they are learning at school from peers than what I thought!
Back to MySpace and the Internet.... We do have internet at home and our son knows it for going to PBSKids and NickJr. (Sesame Street and Blue's Clues) and use them to learn about counting, matching, colors, letters, words, etc... He knows that Mom and Dad have to be present. We've used it also to chat with relatives online, and video instant message (thru Yahoo) and see pictures, and movie clips of his cousins and share his photos and video's. He has a blog. And for his birthday, we found how to make - at home - his Blue's Clues birthday cake. Later, when he's old enough to do a lot more, I hope to keep this up, and not fail at this. - Gottschalk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2For elementary and even middle school I can see being protective but when kids get to high school there needs to be a transition into adulthood. One day a person will leave the happy rainbow land of high school for college or life where, gasp, there are all sorts of nasty predators there too. So now your 18-22 year old is equivalent to a 13 year old because they lived in fortress happy fun time under you're watchful, parental eye.
A deeper issue, parents that are overprotective will be the death of their kids. Getting them socialized and face to face with real issues as soon as possible will create a healthy, wizened person. - Dhalgren, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2In another year we'll be saying "Myspace, what's that?"
One can hope... - xLiKx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2bravo, the school is right. myspace is a great place for pedophiles looking for half-naked young girls now
- Dradis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"MySpace has said that its users have to be at least 14 years old and are required to fill out an online form that includes their date of birth."
Cause, y'know.. a form on a web site is a foolproof way of confirming someone's age. - musicbear, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The odd thing about myspace is that it would be so easy to clean it up... not just in the "cesspool" reputation it carries, but also the interface and how it works. It's nightmare to navigate and set up... the sexual predators don't help it much!
- blankman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2There's nothing wrong with myspace! Everyone is just obsessed with it because news reporters have decided to be obsessed with it. And we all know that people believe whatever they're told by the TV.
Any kid can go set up an account and invite their friends, and have fun without any problems whatsoever. It's just when stupid kids go off looking for "boyfriends" that are really 40 year old fat guys, and LET them talk dirty too them, and LET them send weirdo pictures, and then actually decide to go meet them in person. This is not because of myspace though. These kids would end up doing this by other means anyway. (it's been happening way before myspace, and way before computers too).
If anything, myspace makes it easier for parents to keep an eye on what their kids are up to because it's happening mostly right in their homes. Naive adults (soccer moms, etc..) just go "Oh no, myspace!" without actually talking to their kids and finding out exactly what they do on it. Lots of kids are actually there to have fun with their friends and customize their profiles, and share pictures and stuff. - alterself, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2apparently everyone has forgotten the other problem w/ myspace...its a GIANT marketing tool, to say the least
- wilf_brim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2There are two issues here.
1) The issue of viewing myspace at school. Agree that it should be blocked. There is no reason to view myspace (or any other social networking site) at school. It has little to no (maybe negative) educational value.
2) The deal with it being a magnet for pedophiles and predators. Well, remember Willie Sutton's response to why he robbed banks. These creeps go to myspace because that is where their targets are. In a little while (once myspace crashes) they will follow the kids wherever they go next. While I agree there are some aspects of myspace that make it very attrative to pedophiles (like 13 year old girls posting pics of themselves in bra and panties) generally these creeps are just following their prey. Shut down myspace and the prey will move, then the predators will move with them, like the big cats follow the herds of grazers on the African plains. - gamekid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children?"
- BaCk1a5h, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Myspace is garbage. Those of you that say its a viable social networking tool are retarded. A hand shake and a coversation is a social networking tool that half of America has trouble with. Myspace is just a space to advertise more to kids. I'm 22 and a Highschool teacher and I block it form everyone of my computers in my lab. Have a good day =-)
- kenfagerdotcom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This just in...
Earth densely packed with sexual deviants and pornography. Group X wants to ban Earth. Fox News at 11. - ahhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Oh noes....MySpace is hte evi1 !!11!! Let's ban it and burn some books at the same time!!!
Aren't "sexual predators" more dangerous in PERSON then on the damn Internet??? Sexual predators exist LONG before the Internet.
People need to take responsibilty for themselves so do the damn parents. If parents actually had a ***** clue what their kids were doing, this wouldn't be such a problem. - Muddle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Please don't ban the Malls. The wife and I love to order mocha grand'e lattes then sit on the bench watching our youth. The other day a youth wearing more chains than Hannibal Lecter walked past and we both spewed coffee out our nose. Our study concluded that 99.9% of our youth have cell phones super glued to their ears and are talking at 80 decibels above normal human speech, for two reasons. One is they want everyone to hear everything non-conformist they have to say and two their deaf as a doorknob from car stereo system that rattle all the glass windows of a fifty story downtown Dallas hotel.
You'll ruin our Friday evening entertainment if you do. - vann, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Obligatory Daily Show link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Brv-TIb70b0
- KriTenKs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yay, myspace is crap anyway
- Iceman21, on 11/01/2009, -0/+1Post intimate details on a public site and you give away your rights to privacy.
- cl0ck_werk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2myspace makes you emo
- firecrafter695, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Parents should know what their kids are into on the internet anyway. When I was growing up, my internet access was through a computer in the livingroom. I never got caught up in this kind of trouble because my parents always knew what I was doing and where I was going online.
- Verdaru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Eh, I think that myspace sucks, for the reasons of Emos, crappy HTML, and themes that make your eyes bleed. However, the issue of child predators and all the explicit content, it's not the site's problem, it's a human problem. If myspace goes down, preteens and teens along with the 40 year old's that pretend to be them, will find another place to "socialize" and arrange meetings. Attacking myspace does nothing to help the problem(though I wouldn't mind seeing them go down).
- sheik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Myspace was banned from my school for many reasons. If I were to go on there and print out everyone's profile and hand it to their parents, I don't believe they would be too happy. People don't realize the dangers of the Internet. Although a site like myspace is OK if used correctly, people aren't using it correctly and they are over-using it causing themselves to become addicts to "socializing."
Here is a hint: pretending you are 5 years older than you are and talking to someone who does the same thing is NOT socializing. - loker269, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1holy crap my boss blocked myspace a long time ago on the sonicwall....
- boohiss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"apparently everyone has forgotten the other problem w/ myspace...its a GIANT marketing tool, to say the least"
Marketing/advertising = a problem? No, that's a business model.
The problem with Myspace is this: it's a fking awful design that allows users to make even worse designs and it's impossible to navigate. - Happysin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So MySpace is the new AOL?
- 16bit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If I read one more myspace story, I'm going to burn this building down.
This really isn't what digg is here for. What the hell?
Is this a tech story? No, not really. Is this breaking news? No, not at all.
We all hate myspace, we all have myspace. Get over it and move on.
- 6 diggs and I'd take your posting ability away if you even mentioned myspace, if I could.
Don't make me go back to slashdot!!!! - john117, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1MySpace is utterly depressing. Just browsing a handful of the member pages would lead one to believe that everyone under 25 is a narcissistic semi-literate moron. Of course, this can't possibly be true...
- Iriel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Here's the problem with MySpace in general:
It shouldn't be used in schools at all. Students should should be actually learning social skills or (god forbid) knowledge instead of checking in on somebody else's page during class. Period. Done. No parenting arguments there.
While MySpace isn't some evil scheme created by the nation's pedophiles to trap the nation's youth for them to choose from, it is an extremely popular social network for teenagers. As such, it has attracted the attention of many perverts and does deserve some attention. While I don't think MySpace should be directly blamed for crimes the way the news has been carying on, there is an issue at hand when one site alone is a veritable directory for victims to a much larger extent than many internet sites in the past. - opera, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1what's a pornographer?
i know pornography, as well as stupidity. but i've never heard of neither a pornographer nor a stupiditer... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Myspace is crap. Bad site design, bad everything. Its crap crap crap.
"Hi, I have no social life, and instead of calling my friends on the phone, I'll just blog about it. BLOG BLOG BLOG...who needs social skills?" - h4lofourt33n, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Myspace is like Baskin Robins for pedophiles. 31 Flavors, and ages.
- settsu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have a MySpace account and am not of the opinion that it is any more inherently dangerous than the world at large.
But the bottom line is: They're in school and they need to get their asses back to studying.
America is already the laziest, most apathetic nation in the world. The last thing we need is one more distraction for our future leaders. - haochi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My school had banned some sites because of "this site is prohibit ---- social"
- BaCk1a5h, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1When we had penpals we learned how to write in proper English. When kids write in MySpace they write like dumb little monkeys on crack. LOL ROFL IMO Those aren't words!
It all became clear when I made a joke in class and a kid went LOL. - JC4P, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"this whole myspace problem is just another case of parents not being parents."
nymphetamine is totally right. - kuenz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1
Everytime I read a digg story about myspace, I throw up a little. - worthawholebean, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ugh. There have been what, 10? cases of bad things happening to kids out of the 50 million accounts on MySpace. You have more chance of being raped walking thorugh Central Park in full daylight.
- gODfall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Whatever school sux anyways, they banned myspace well i guess they rather me skip class and do drugs. For all you parents out there stop wasting time pointing at a ***** popular website of whatever the media tells you, and start talking to your children and teach Them about the REAL harms of life and not just some sto0pidity you may have heard on the 6 o'clock news. Is it me or is it only Americans that act this way? So much for free country...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Use a proxy blocker like everyone else.
Problem solved. MySpace all you want. - stoops, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Can someone just shut that site down already. Who really needs to put their whole profile up on a website anyway for anyone in the world to see. maybe there should be restrictions on who is able to view your space.
- accidental, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I hate MySpace, would love to see it shut down. And it isn't a matter of parents not being parents. Sure, some of that happens but you cant completely lock down your kids and even so, why would you want to? I think a lot of the people who make that claim aren't parents themselves.
- slipaway172, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0im at school right now and they have blocked myspace from the first day. High school to be exact
- LordRahl72, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It is no worse than Xanga.
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