Online Social Networking for Teens
MySpace is for the most part safe a beneficial for teens.
In today’s world technology is rapidly rising. The growth of technology is resulting in many beneficial things. Although everyone uses new technology, teenagers seem to be the ones taking maximum advantage of it. Most teens today own either a cell phone or an ipod, and in some cases both. Teens use these new developments to benefit themselves in many ways. Beneficial technology for adolescents has advanced the most in communication. The key method for the communication of teens today is online social networks. These networks have become extremely popular with teens all around the world. Many people think that teen online social networks are dangerous and unsafe, but it all depends on the responsibility of the user, or the parent’s concern for their teen user. Teen online social networks are useful, safe, and suitable for teens because they offer an entertaining and enjoyable way to communicate with peers, while using a restricted and somewhat controlled environment.
Communication between friends and family for teens used to be difficult. Keeping in touch with friends was limited to phone calls and mail . Then online communities were created to make it easier for teenagers stay in touch with other teens on a local and international level. There are many different types of online social networks for teens such as LiveJournal, Xanga, and Facebook. The most popular among teens today is MySpace. “MySpace, which began as a site for music fans, has grown rapidly in popularity among teens as a social networking hub” (news.bbc.co.uk). It presents a cooperative network of pictures, blogs, user profiles, and an internal email system.
MySpace has many positive attributes. MySpace calls itself “a place for friends”, and that is exactly what it is. It is the perfect place for teenagers to meet other teens that share the same interest as them. One fifth of the one hundred and ninety nine million and counting MySpace users, are under the age of eighteen (new.bbc.co.uk). This makes it easy for any teen to fit in because there is such a big variety of other teenagers.
MySpace is used by adolescents to express themselves. Many teens post their unique poetry and display their own art on their profile. They also express themselves by the background they choose for their profile. “Pictures are the heart and soul of MySpace” (lynnclassical.org). Most everyone displays a picture of themselves. MySpace also boosts shy people’s self esteem. Some teens even allege that MySpace has changed their social life completely. Whatever the case may be, MySpace has a positive effect on teens.
There are many debates when it comes to the MySpace and teens. Teens should be responsible for anything that results from what they post on their profile. It is not required to display important personal information on MySpace. Teenagers should not display significant information about themselves. If they exhibit more than is needed, and something negative comes from it, it is their fault. It is not MySpace’s fault.
MySpace worries many parents who are concerned about internet safety. Although there are some incidences where the use of MySpace has resulted in unpleasant occurrences, the occurrences were caused as a result of mistakes made by the user. These things should not be blamed on MySpace, for MySpace tries it’s best to promote and direct internet safety towards it’s users. MySpace has already removed over 300,000 “objectionable” profiles in order to soothe the fears and raise the safety for it’s teenage users (ft.com).
MySpace is part of a company called NewsCorp. NewsCorp has decided to select a team of security to supervise child safety on MySpace. NewsCorp is also promoting child safety on the internet by advertising (news.bbc.co.uk).
The adverts are part of an ongoing campaign by the US Ad Council and the National Center for Missing &Exploited Children. They also aim to educate parents about what measures they can take to protect their children, and to raise awareness among teens on creating safe online relationships(news.bbc.co.uk).
The public notices will air on television, radio and throughout NewsCorp’s network of websites.
There are many other forms of security that MySpace has to offer. MySpace prohibits children under the age of thirteen from joining, and it presents specific protection for teens at ages fourteen and fifteen. There are ways to teens to set their profile to private, which eliminates everyone who is not their “friend” from seeing their profile. “The Fox Corporation has also appointed Hermanshu Nifam to oversee safety, education, privacy, and law enforcement for MySpace” (news.bbc.co.uk) . This began on May 1, 2006. Everyday NewsCorp and MySpace are searching for new ways to raise the safety of MySpace.
Teen online social networks are useful, safe, and suitable for teens because they offer an entertaining and enjoyable way to communicate with peers, while using a restricted and somewhat controlled environment. Many parents worry about the safety of their teen on these websites, but they shouldn’t if their teen is trustworthy and responsible. Online social networks are a wonderful method of communication for teens today. New technology is being developed everyday. Important technology will continue to increase throughout each year that is ahead to benefit our world.
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http://progressiveu.org/160921-self-nostalgia
i agree with some of the points (like communication) -- i've found ppl on myspace that i wouldn't have e-mailed or talked to otherwise. however, there are so many hackers and impersonators that i still think that outweighs the pros.
I like MySpace not only because you could make new friends as well as communicate with your regular friends, but you could find out secrets of what your high school classmates really thought about your high school teachers because one time, I found out what one of my classmates thought about one of my teachers.
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