Never Too Safe Online Options

[Im So Vain]

In my recent issue of Teen Vogue there was an article about how, more teens are looking for love online. On sites like match.com, friendster, craigslist. makeoutclub, myspace, etc.

According to a September 2004 Dateline NBC report, one in five teens who chat or date online will be contacted by an online predator. As part of the show's investigation, a reporter and a team of volunteers created a fictional 14 year old Brooklyn girl who e-mailed with men in cyberspace. "She" eventually made plans to meet them for sex, In the course of a single afternoon more than eighteen men showed up at a house where they thought the young girl would be waiting alone for them. (Instead, they were greeted by Dateline reporters.)

QUESTIONS TO GET STARTED:
1.)Should the minimum age to have an online personal be raised?

2.)Should parents have more control over their childs internet access?

*Fell free to add anymore thoughts you have, beyond the two questions.

[toodlepops.]

1) As much as it's the best for children to raise the minimum age to an online personal, there just isn't any way. Kids can just lie about their age to get into sites. (which is already happening now is Friendster, Myspace, etc) If such a thing was possible, all this online predators wouldn't exist.

2) Yes, parents should have more control over their kids. But like Gearbox said, it could make the child lose trust in the parent which may lead to other social problems. Some parents now trust their kids too much, probably thinking their kids go to innocent sites while they maybe going to not-so-innocent sites.
It's just how the parents educate their children. If children were taught from the start which was right and wrong, "spying" on kids wouldn't be necessary.

[Im So Vain]

1) As much as it's the best for children to raise the minimum age to an online personal, there just isn't any way. Kids can just lie about their age to get into sites. (which is already happening now is Friendster, Myspace, etc) If such a thing was possible, all this online predators wouldn't exist.

Well yeah there are always ways to get around age limits, but if there was an age increase it will probably still narrow down some of those children who use their site everyday. Even though it seems like the sites like Myspace cant do anything about kids who lie about their age. I think that they should still probably try, I mean you can do just aout anything on the internet these days.

2) Yes, parents should have more control over their kids. But like Gearbox said, it could make the child lose trust in the parent which may lead to other social problems. Some parents now trust their kids too much, probably thinking their kids go to innocent sites while they maybe going to not-so-innocent sites.
It's just how the parents educate their children. If children were taught from the start which was right and wrong, "spying" on kids wouldn't be necessary.

I agree kids will think that their parents dont trust them if they monitor every movement they make on the net, but it is for their safety. There has been girls who've had real-life stalkers because of information they had on the net.
If you're like an older teenager, then parents should not worry about you too much because you are almost an adult. But I mean if you just browse Frienster and Myspace you'll see plenty of little girls (probably in middle school) who have pictures on there of them wearing bear midriffs, or just a bra and panties. So its no wonder why parents arent trusting their kids. I dont understand why people like to disrespect themselves like that. Most people that I know who have their own site's, have parents who are clueless about them. If you have nothing to hide then why not inform them of your online activity?