Probably one of the greatest threats to teenagers is the latest method of e-communication called blogging. “Blog” is short for “web log” which is an online personal diary page. Blogs have combined the technology of e-mail, live chat, and personal web pages all into one. A person sets up their own web page with whatever personal information they wish to reveal on it, then begins an on-line journal. Whenever that person posts a blog, it enters the public domain. Others (buddies) may subscribe to receive notification of new blog entries, but anyone may browse and read. These personal blog journals expose a person and all his/her peers (buddy-list subscribers), completely, to whoever wants to see them; their names, thoughts, activities, address, age and more all become public information. The main blog sites are Xanga.com, livejournal.com, and myspace.com.
There are really two main dangers with blogs.
The first is the exposure of vulnerable teenagers to predators. This is a real danger. I have four different true stories on my desk of sexual predators tracking down and assaulting teenage bloggers. The most recent is the story of Taylor Behl, a seventeen-year-old who vanished from Richmond, Virginia in September of this year and whose remains were found a month later at an abandoned farmhouse. According to this Washington Post story of October 25, this teen met her killer online and exchanged messages regularly on two popular social networking sites, myspace.com and livejournal.com, prior to meeting in person. Her family was not away of her blogging, nor her relationship with the 38 year-old, unemployed, amateur pornographic photographer with a criminal history.
What happens with these blogs? This. The lurkers are there, the teenagers post with aliases like “sexyteen05,” “hotchic4U” etc., they tell of their address, weekend activities, etc., and invite comment from lurkers, they arrange for meetings, and the rest is often sad history.
This is only one danger. It is less widespread, but real nonetheless. Especially when the teenagers put themselves out there as looking and desperate, using language and aliases with sexual inuendos.
The other danger is more widespread. On each blog page is a list of buddies. Each time a buddy is clicked on, it takes you to his page and his list of buddies. Soon, very soon, teenagers can be reading about and making acquaintance with other teenagers (local) who are involved in pornography, drugs, drinking parties, fornication, Sabbath desecration, cursing and bad language, movie attendance, etc. Every blogger is exposed to this. And it is all so real and so close to home, and sadly, many parents are oblivious to it.
It goes something like this. A teenager sits down on a Friday afternoon to write a blog entry after a stressful day at school. Mom and Dad are not home for the evening and there is nothing to do. He notices someone has posted a comment in response to one of his blogs in which he indicated he had nothing up Friday night. It is an invitation to join them at a party promising chics and beer. It is really that easy. And it can go in so many directions and lead to so many unhealthy relationships, web sites, parties, etc.
Another danger is blogs of rebellion. Teenagers feeding on each other on their sites, to stir up rebellion against teachers, parents, pastors and others in authority. An article entitled “Bloggers Learn the Price of Telling too much” (CNN.com, July 11, 2005), makes reference to this.
(At) times the ease of posting unedited thoughts on the web can be ugl(y), in part because of the speed with which the postings spread and multiply.
This is what happened at a middle school in Michigan last fall, when principals started receiving complaints from parents about some students’ blog postings on Xanga. School officials couldn’t do much about it. But when the students found out they were being monitored, a few posted threatening comments aimed at an assistant principal – and that led to some student suspensions.
“It as a spiraling of downward emotions,” says the schools principal. . . . “Kids just feed into that and then more kids see it and so on,” she says. “It’s a negative power, but still a power.”
These are stories not hard to imagine and identify with, even in our own circles. To think otherwise is to be naive.
All this brings home the importance of parental guidance and supervision in the home and in the lives of their teenagers in the area of internet usage. Parents need to warn them, to lead them, to monitor them, to talk with them about these things.
I finish this article with five internet safety tips from software4parents.com.
1. Tell your child to NEVER EVER reveal their name, address, phone number or any other personal information to ANYONE online. Once you give out this information, it is impossible to retract.
2. Communicate regularly (not just once) with your child about WHAT they do online and WHO they talk to online. If you have actually met the friends they are talking to in person, you'll know it is OK for them to chat with them online.
3. Take computers out of kids' rooms and put them into public areas such as the family room. Many parents think they are helping with homework by giving the kids a computer, but it also opens certain dangers that you may be unaware of.
4. Choose your child's screen name, email address or instant message name wisely - don't' reveal ages, sex, hobbies, and CERTAINLY NOT suggestive or sexy names. Predators are more likely to pursue a child with the screen name "sexyteen5" than "happygirl5"
5. Use technology to help you protect your child. Monitoring software gives you the ability to review your child's Internet usage. Even if you don't look at each and every email or instant message they send, you'll have a good idea if they are making smart choices online.
The Internet can open many doors and provide useful information for children. An aware and informed parent can help keep children safe.
It is another aspect of our battle with sin and the world. May God help us in it. |
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