Myspace, the popular social networking site, has grown to be the number one searched term on the Internet and one of the highest trafficked web pages in the world. It seems like everyone has a page or at least has a family member on Myspace. It’s great that we are all so connected in this online world, but is it a good idea to let our children participate?

At FixMonster we have often, in the past, seen households where young children have their own computers in their rooms. The new trend we see is that these children are now establishing an online presence at an extremely early age. It is not uncommon to see Myspace users ranging from eight to twelve years old. Although we are quite impressed with how well these kids have adapted to online life and how much they have been able to customize their Myspace, we have to wonder if it is a good idea to let this take place.

The Internet is the largest anonymous communications mechanism ever established in the history of the world. While this fosters open and honest discussion on a wide range of subjects it also provides a perfect place for predators to blend in with the noise. If a child is left to this sea of information without any guidance they can not only be exposed to subjects or images that they are not experienced enough to deal with, they can be manipulated and tricked into participating in activities that could end up in the headlines. Even worse: activities that nobody is ever aware of.

Young children are not the only ones that are susceptible to the dangers of social networks. Recently in the news was the sad story of a young lady that was tricked by a schoolmate’s mother into thinking an attractive boy was interested in her. When the teenaged girl was completely infatuated, the woman impersonating the boy pulled the plug on the relationship and told her that she would be better off dead. In her despair the girl took her own life. You can read more on that story here.

The Myspace suicide story is the worst case scenario of what can happen when a young and impressionble person is exposed to the world without a net, but there are other dangers that would not seem so apparent. At the beginning of this article you read that Myspace is the number one searched term on the internet. Search engines pay more attention to sites that are popular. What this means is that Myspace is indexed in the search engines with high priority and everything that is visible on Myspace can be found at any time with a quick and simple search on Google, MSN, Yahoo or most any other search engine you may use. Realizing that, imagine what happens when a teenager gets into a feud with someone at school or, as teenagers do, pop-off at the mouth and say something that would publicly reflect on them in a bad light. If something is said on the phone, in person or even in a note it can be forgotten and fade away into the past. When something is said in a public forum like Myspace it is cataloged, indexed, categorized and stored on servers all over the world. Imagine a grandmother searching for one of their grandchildren’s names on the internet. Or imagine a boss ten years down the road doing the same thing. When you read something in black and white on your computer screen it is as fresh as the day it was typed.

At FixMonster we take the privacy and safety of our families seriously. We have tools that can help you monitor your children or even block them from accessing sites that could be damaging or dangerous. If after reading this article you think you should do some checking in with a child in your house, please don’t hesitate and get involved. Sometimes all that is needed is guidance and understanding. If you ever need any assistance, we are here for you.

Give us a call, we can help.