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Cyber 911 Tiplines A Mom's Account of her MySpace "Discovery"
This is a personal account of one parent's experience with MySpace.com. Mom accidentally came upon her 18 year old son's MySpace page. It was a most shocking event. On his homepage, there was a gigantic picture of him. He had just gotten a tattoo (unknownst to mom) and there he was, with a black tattoo covering his whole upper back... for the world to see. Of course, that was only the tip of the iceberg. In his personal section were all the bad habits he said he had... smoking, drinking, having sex, etc. The response section of "Friends" had girl’s pictures everywhere. They were provocative pictures, with provocative write-ups. Both her son and these friends used abusive language throughout.
You might say, so what, the boy was 18 year old at the time? Well, it is now common knowledge that future employers have access to these pages. What does that represent to them? Not to mention, when parents try to raise their children with some sense of morality, it's awfully disappointing to see them flagrantly throw their values to the wind, if only online.
Mom later found out that her son had introduced MySpace to his 11 year old sister, who was in Middle School. She had her own page and own friends. Although her page appeared hugely innocent in comparison to his, she would get daily messages (which she deleted, she said) that discussed penis sizes, breast augmentation, etc. One day parents got a phone call from a male claiming to be in love with her. After much investigation, the Middle School found out that it was from a classmate's older cousin who went to another school but had seen her MySpace page.
Professionals recommend either denying your children access to MySpace, or sitting there with them as they use it. This mom agrees. Of course kids go to other friend's houses and use MySpace, but that requires increased supervision by the friend's parents. MySpace damage must be discussed and taken seriously.