MySpace: Why are people so naive?

[Edman]

This is an opinionated mini-rant on MySpace and how people(mainly kids/teens) can be so stupid with it. You may hate me for this, but there you go.

One thing that really grinds my gears are these My Space-related sexual assualt cases on girls and how people are blaming MySpace for their issues. I am not saying the rapes are the girls' fault, the crime is sickening and it cannot be justified in anyway, but It really sickens me how they(the victims) don't have the common sense to realize: "Okay, this is a guy I never met in person, I should be careful". I just can't believe how naive people can be. It's so easy to make a doctored photo and fake your age.

Once again, I am not justifying the rape/crime in anyway. The person who commits it is sick and should be punished severely, but you have to admit that in a way the victim brought it on themselves for being so foolish.

A family in Texas sued MySpace because one of the girls in the family got stupid and decided to meet a guy SHE NEVER MET PERSONALLY BEFORE and misrepresented her age (Said she was 18 instead of 13). What happened? She got sexually assaulted. What was the ruling? The case was dismissed and the family got squat. I feel sorry for the girl, but she (or her family for that matter) couldn't be that dumb enough to not play it safe.
Source: Wikipedia.

One final time, I AM NOT JUSTIFYING RAPE CRIMES. They are terrible, sick acts. I'm just asking why people are so foolish with it. MySpace upped the safety measures, but they can only do so much. They're not going to stop the kids from going out and personally meeting people they don't know. That's up to the kids having the common sense and parents taking precautions.

[Hammer67]

Originally Posted by Edman

This is an opinionated mini-rant on MySpace and how people(mainly kids/teens) can be so stupid with it. You may hate me for this, but there you go.

One thing that really grinds my gears are these My Space-related sexual assualt cases on girls and how people are blaming MySpace for their issues. I am not saying the rapes are the girls' fault, the crime is sickening and it cannot be justified in anyway, but It really sickens me how they(the victims) don't have the common sense to realize: "Okay, this is a guy I never met in person, I should be careful". I just can't believe how naive people can be. It's so easy to make a doctored photo and fake your age.

Once again, I am not justifying the rape/crime in anyway. The person who commits it is sick and should be punished severely, but you have to admit that in a way the victim brought it on themselves for being so foolish.

A family in Texas sued MySpace because one of the girls in the family got stupid and decided to meet a guy SHE NEVER MET PERSONALLY BEFORE and misrepresented her age (Said she was 18 instead of 13). What happened? She got sexually assaulted. What was the ruling? The case was dismissed and the family got squat. I feel sorry for the girl, but she (or her family for that matter) couldn't be that dumb enough to not play it safe.
Source: Wikipedia.

One final time, I AM NOT JUSTIFYING RAPE CRIMES. They are terrible, sick acts. I'm just asking why people are so foolish with it. MySpace upped the safety measures, but they can only do so much. They're not going to stop the kids from going out and personally meeting people they don't know. That's up to the kids having the common sense and parents taking precautions.

I agree. Personally I think My Space is one big vanity piece in this, the tabloid generation. I don't have one. I don't know why my sister and bro-in-law do. I asked. They said it was to keep in contact with friends. What? Isn't that what email and phones are for?

I don't know. My Space sites are just stupid to me. A bunch of people trying to add as many people as they can as "friends" and they really aren't. But, I agree that they shouldn't blame My Space for poor parenting.

In our society, everyone wants to blame someone else for their actions. Poor parents are usually first in line here. They should have been monitoring their kid's online usage.

[Buzz05]

I have one question. Where are the parents? When I was growing up I wasnt aloud to cross the street without my parents permission. Let alone have a computer in my own room. Mine was in a family room. I think parents need to take more responsibility for the actions of their own kids.

[Hammer67]

Originally Posted by Buzz05

I have one question. Where are the parents? When I was growing up I wasnt aloud to cross the street without my parents permission. Let alone have a computer in my own room. Mine was in a family room. I think parents need to take more responsibility for the actions of their own kids.

One of the big problems in society today is the decline in active parenting. Dual income families also add to this as kids are left unsupervised for longer periods of time. There are a lot of good and active parents out there, but there are a lot of poor ones, as well.

It's like the lady who sued McDonalds after spilling hot coffee on herself. It's hot coffee you moron!

Same thing here. How is My Space at fault for her daughter liying? If her parents were more involved in her life, she probably wouldn't have needed to get attention in that way.

[ShutDown24]

Maybe this will shed some light on why the site is so popular... For anyone who actually uses it to keep up with friends and not just have one because everyone else does it is a really good tool and far superior to email. While email is sufficient for keeping in contact with people, myspace makes it really easy not to just keep in contact with them but share everything with them. You can represent yourself through pictures, blogs, put videos you like on and share everything you love with your friends. An example of a great reason that taking it to the next level is extremely beneficial is if you live in Pittsburgh and have a friend who moves to California you can still do activities with them as opposed to just writing them. They can see things you have done through pictures like taking trips, or going to sports events or w/e. While you can do all of these things through email it is much more convenient to put it on a singular page where all of your contacts can reach it and it can be saved. Private messaging maintains the privacy of emails and comments provide an instant message element to the experience. I am a journalism student and use my blog page to post and display my work and get feedback on it. There are a lot of sport trash talking myspaces made just for talking sports and bashing other fans - much like this board... So you see, myspace has many uses that other sites have, just rolled into one place. That was the big deal when it first started to gain popularity and why it’s been able to stay alive and not die out.

[stlrtruck]

Coming from a man that has a teenage daughter who thinks myspace is the best thing since Adam & Eve and sliced bread, I agree with your sentiments on this. I've spoken with my daughter on more than one occassion about how people come on to those websites looking to create such haneous (sp) acts against children.

Of course to her, I'm a freaking idiot adult who doesn't know any better. I've given her stats and I've tried to educate her on the male species. But she flat out refuses to listen to what I'm telling her. Of course she's learning from the male friends here, rather than just on myspace that I'm right.

So I can only hope that stories like this and my own input will deter her from such actions in the future.

But blaming myspace is just a lack of responsibility, maturity, and accountability on the parent's behalf.

[ShutDown24]

The most important thing is how you use it and who you talk to on it. It really is a great place if you use it in the right way. Just make sure that your kids and or yourself is using it for the right reasons and don't blame Myspace for actions that they can't control.

[Buzz05]

Originally Posted by stlrtruck

Coming from a man that has a teenage daughter who thinks myspace is the best thing since Adam & Eve and sliced bread, I agree with your sentiments on this. I've spoken with my daughter on more than one occassion about how people come on to those websites looking to create such haneous (sp) acts against children.

Of course to her, I'm a freaking idiot adult who doesn't know any better. I've given her stats and I've tried to educate her on the male species. But she flat out refuses to listen to what I'm telling her. Of course she's learning from the male friends here, rather than just on myspace that I'm right.

So I can only hope that stories like this and my own input will deter her from such actions in the future.

But blaming myspace is just a lack of responsibility, maturity, and accountability on the parent's behalf.

From someone who is only 24 let me just say that I am a fan of MySpace. I use it quite a bit to keep in touch with High school and college friends since we are all over the country and rarely see eachother. Its a good way to keep in touch with whats going on in eachothers lives. However, I agree with you 100%. People should teach their children whats right and whats wrong. Thats what comes with being a parent. People that let their children do whatever, whenever then blame others for their childrens screw ups should be held just as accountable.

All I can say is keep up the good work man.

[Hammer67]

Originally Posted by ShutDown24

Maybe this will shed some light on why the site is so popular... For anyone who actually uses it to keep up with friends and not just have one because everyone else does it is a really good tool and far superior to email. While email is sufficient for keeping in contact with people, myspace makes it really easy not to just keep in contact with them but share everything with them. You can represent yourself through pictures, blogs, put videos you like on and share everything you love with your friends. An example of a great reason that taking it to the next level is extremely beneficial is if you live in Pittsburgh and have a friend who moves to California you can still do activities with them as opposed to just writing them. They can see things you have done through pictures like taking trips, or going to sports events or w/e. While you can do all of these things through email it is much more convenient to put it on a singular page where all of your contacts can reach it and it can be saved. Private messaging maintains the privacy of emails and comments provide an instant message element to the experience. I am a journalism student and use my blog page to post and display my work and get feedback on it. There are a lot of sport trash talking myspaces made just for talking sports and bashing other fans - much like this board... So you see, myspace has many uses that other sites have, just rolled into one place. That was the big deal when it first started to gain popularity and why it?s been able to stay alive and not die out.

You make valid points. I must just be getting old. 31!

I have no need for one as none of my friends do that I know of, and the sites that I have seen are kind of pointless or ridiculous to me. Although my brother has one for his photography business and has gotten work from it. He photographs bands for albulm sleeve art and at live shows. He also does some model photo work. So, I see the benefits there.

On the whole, I still think My Space is pointless...but that's just me. More importantly, parents should carefully watch and monitor their kid's computer usage. There are great tools, even built into Windows, like log tracking, seperate user accounts, web site blocking, etc.

[stlrtruck]

Originally Posted by Buzz05

From someone who is only 24 let me just say that I am a fan of MySpace. I use it quite a bit to keep in touch with High school and college friends since we are all over the country and rarely see eachother. Its a good way to keep in touch with whats going on in eachothers lives. However, I agree with you 100%. People should teach their children whats right and whats wrong. Thats what comes with being a parent. People that let their children do whatever, whenever then blame others for their childrens screw ups should be held just as accountable.

All I can say is keep up the good work man.

Thanks but it is an every day battle. One day, if you choose to become a parent, you'll find out that the things you thought were cool as a younger adult, just aren't that cool anymore and you'd wish your kids wouldn't do it.

It's kind of like the icing on the cake that your parents were right and this is only proof of it.