My Ambivalence About Myspace

As a father of four who is a bona-fide cyberjunkie, I've always been of two minds about MySpace.

Yeah, it's the cool new social networking space for young folks, and just about everybody seems to be on it these days. The cybersurfer in me loves the fact that you can dip into a new universe with every mouse click -- one moment you're commiserating with fans of a cool new band, the next minute you're checking out the hotties who have applied for Playboy's Girls of MySpace pictorial.

As a musician, finding a site with the ability to post some of my music has been gratifying. And entering into a network with others with similar interests is a powerful, addictive opportunity.

But the parent in me knows that passels of 14-year-olds (and younger) running around unchecked in a service where porn stars and skin mags keep prominent pages is an awful idea. (before you shrug that off, think about it: Would you let your 11 or 12-year-old sibling/child run around Times Square with no adult supervision and any time of night?)

That's why I tried to cover the waterfront a bit in my story on MySpace from today's paper; presenting a little of good, bad and ugly about the site. The fact remains: If those who run MySpace don't figure out a way to keep the younger users a bit more isolated and protected, some awful incident will send advertisers running and shut down the service.

It's good news that the News corp.-owned site plans to install a safety czar to develop plans for safeguarding children on the service. But it's hard to know how they will make this vibrant, ever-changing landscape safe for kids without killing the volatile energy that makes it so much fun in the first place.

What do you think?

Comments

[Laura Young]

Hey you! Just checked out your myspace blog. Such a treat to hear Voyage! Made me want to bust out some of my Club MTV dance moves. Those were the days, my friend.I had to chuckle recently...I thought I dodged a few of these bullets not having kids until my neighbor girl asked if she could interview me for a school paper. I've known her since she was 5, she's a senior now. So, I said sure, why not. Well, turns out it was about sex and marriage! You would have laughed your butt off at my sweating bullets. She wanted to know my opinions about premarital sex and all that. YIKES! So many things I haven't had to deal with not having kids. My deepest respect to all of you who are dealing with the impact of our culture and technology "advances" on your little ones!!!

[Eric Deggans]

But if you want to safeguard your children while they explore the internet, there is screening software you can use to block certain keywords, websites and content. Indeed, school districts across the country have used such controls to block students from accessing MySpace on school computers.MySpace offers no such controls. Parents cannot limit their children's access to certain areas or certain content. My kids all have AOL accounts, but they are not allowed to receive email or instant messages from anything but pre-approved email addresses. By the time they are older teens, they will know how to use the Internet well enough to have general-access accounts.That is MySpace's biggest problem. They need to offer more controls to keep minors away from epxlicit content to appease big sponsors But the minute they do tht, their user base will shrink. it will be interesting to see how they get around thia paradox...

[Anonymous]

You said ... But the parent in me knows that passels of 14-year-olds (and younger) running around unchecked in a service where porn stars and skin mags keep prominent pages is an awful idea ...The place you describe is the Internet. It is more like all of New York City, not just Times Square. And there are many good places in New York City, and a few slimy places. If you walk down any street in New York City, you might get propotitioned or mugged. Same with the Internet, and MySpace. A teen can use MySpace to connect with friends and meet new people, but just like in New York City, caution should be the rule. Don't know this guy? Don't get in his car. Someone flattering you? They are after something. Bragging about your drug use in a loud voice? Someone is going to notice.MySpace really, really, isn't the problem. It is just a platform where the problem arises. And parents talking to their kids is the solution. But even then, if they want to find trouble, they can go into that wild world of the Internet and find it.

[Robin 'Roblimo' Miller]

Max Miller was the waterfront reporter for the now-defunct San Diego Sun in the 1930s. It was a newbie/nebbish beat, maintaining shipping schedules and once in a while doing an interview with a celeb who got on or off an ocean liner. But unlike most journalists who talk about writing books but never do, Max wrote "I Cover the Waterfront," a book you really need to read since -- aside from being interesting and well-written -- it's chock full 'o tips on how to turn a boring beat into a Thing of Beauty. A movie of the same title was made in 1933 that was sort-of based on part of the book. Worth seeing. And the title song from that movie became a jazz standard that is still played today.Max later wrote several novels (My favorite was "The Man on the Barge"), but he was best-known for non-fiction. He was a truly great observer. Poynter ought to have an annual Max Miller Appreciation Day. I'd come. :)

[formerly mr anonymous]

the various times ive visited myspace i was overcome by too many unreadable black backgrounded pages to be very bothered exploring them further.but thats just me.the notion of 'protecting' kids is very '50s. whatever you do, they are light years ahead of you, eric.

[Eric Deggans]

I was actually subliminally quoting my editor, who probably was quoting Max Miller. But you know us journalists -- we're all frustrated literary types at heart...

[Robin 'Roblimo' Miller]

"I tried to cover the waterfront a bit..."Was that a Max Miller reference? If it was, congrats! That makes two people in the Tampa area (you and me) who have heard of him.This is right up there with the time, years ago, that I closed a Baltimore Sun story called "Rat Fishing in Baltimore" with the word "mayonnaise" for reasons that are obvious to anyone familiar with Richard Brautigan's work.