I think if I read one more post on how the blogosphere sky is falling because of MySpace’s existence, I’m going to hurt somebody. If I have to hear one more time how surprised people are when teens are assaulted or brag about their idiotic plans, I’m going to start going around slapping parents of teenagers.
Okay, guys, let’s try to be a little reasonable about this. MySpace is not the new blogosphere. It’s a social networking tool that many performers are finding might be a great way to help launch their careers. Yes, there is a blog function, but from what I’ve seen, either people don’t use it, or they use it journal. I think we can all agree journaling is not blogging. It also has some nifty features, but nothing that really threatens the fabric of blogging society.
All of that said, it is a social networking tool, which means parents actually need to be monitoring their child’s use of it. It’s irresponsible, at a criminal level, to just unleash your child on any sort of web site where you cannot control who they’ll meet. They’re children. They may have two digits in their age, but they’re still children. They don’t have the full rationality to make good decisions (not that adults are much better these days). They don’t understand that there are dire, irreversible consequences for their decisions and actions sometimes. None of us did when we were teenagers. It’s part of growing up!
It’s also incredibly unintelligent to hold MySpace resposible for the fact you didn’t care enough to nose into your child’s business. Websites rarely make good babysitters, and honestly cannot be held responsible for your shoddy parenting skills.
For the record, I do have a MySpace account. I use it very half-heartedly. I take every friend request and decide how to appropriately respond to it. It’s mostly been trolls, and that one really creepy guy. *shudder* Occasionally, I even look at profiles a friend directs me to, ready to tell her whether or not I think the guy is worth contacting. I don’t feel my pretty blogs are threatened by the existence of my MySpace account, and I don’t take candy from strangers.
