What do you think of underage use of Myspace?
Kids that are around A’s age (10 years old) are starting to use Myspace. This just bewilders me. Myspace has age requirement of 14-years old, but for some reason, parents think that it is alright to allow their child to break the rules, as long as they “keep a close eye on them.” This bothers me on so many levels.
My first annoyance is the idea that it is ok to break the rules. I believe rules are rules whether we like them, agree with them or think we are above them. I try and teach my kids that, too.
One of my pet peeves? Teaching kids by our actions, that it is ok to lie. I will be the first to admit that I am far from perfect, but I try to set a good example for my kids in this situation. For example, a mother I know used to constantly tell her daughter,(that has a huge lying problem) not to lie. This same mother taught this daughter to lie and even rehearsed her fake age with her so she could get a discount on plane tickets. Does this not seem contradictory?
These parents that are allowing their children to sign up on Myspace are having them lie about their age. They are having them sign an agreement testifying to the fact that they are at least 14 years of age.
So, that is my first issue on the underage use of Myspace. My second problem is that children, who are not quite ready, in my opinion, are put into adult situations. Even if the child’s profile is set to “private” so that only selected people can view the complete profile, there is still quite a bit of spam that sometimes is sent to the message board and such. I don’t think 10-year olds should be put in the position to deal with that yet. Just my opinion, though.
Lastly, some of these 10-year old Myspace users I have seen scare me. Yes, I know that our kids are growing up, but to see the profile, with their picture on it say things like “I am feeling flirty” and ” I love boys and such and such” really make me concerned. I know they trust thier kids, but have these parents not watched Dateline? These same parents are leaving their kids home by themselves for long periods of time.
My hubby says our kids are never going to use Myspace or any type of social networking. He believes the risks out weigh the social benefits. I am not so sure I agree 100% with that, but it does seem every day a new report comes out how content on a social networking site or blog has affected an application.
In 4 years from now, when A is of legal age to have a Myspace page, I am sure we will revist the issue. Who knows where things will be at that time. I do wonder though, as bloggers and just seemingly awesome people who read my stuff, what do you all think? I know a few of you have children around the same age. Do you let them have a Myspace page?
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14 Responses to “What do you think of underage use of Myspace?”
February 25th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
My 13 year old does not use any of these sites. It seems like none of her good friends really are either because she does not seem to have any pressure to use them.
BUT, I did sign her up for a Goodreads account and made her older so that she could share books with me and my other “friends” (my mom, my brother, my sil…).
Inthefastlane’s last blog post..Thank You Target
February 25th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Can I swear on here? Okay, fine. Heck, no. My children will not have a myspace page. Will not. Not now or in the near future. I just now let my 11 yr old have access to email. And that is with me checking it before and after she is done.
frugalmom’s last blog post..Just livin’
February 25th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Absolutely not. Nope, nope, nope. This is why there is no computer behind closed doors in our home, and mine are 13 and 17! No cell phones in the bedrooms either (I’m so mean).
TXPoppet’s last blog post..I Wish I Was Renee Zellweger Even With Swollen Feet
February 25th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Right now? No. At ten? No. At fourteen…possibly. But here’s the thing…if I let him have one, he could soooo easily make another one that I don’t know about. (He’s my child–I was good at hiding things from my parents) but then again with me paying attention to what he does I don’t think I’ll mind if he has one (after 14 of course…maybe even 16…old enough to drive-old enough to myspace). I still think at 16 many kids are just to immature to deal with this stuff and it shows in their writings and stuff. I am a mother who will not respect my sons privacy until he is 18. I feel it is my job to protect and teach him and if that means looking through it while he’s watching me I’m all for it!
Lyns
Lynsey’s last blog post..Thall Shalt Not….
February 25th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
The whole internet and my kids thing really bothers me.
I’m not even letting my 10yr old have a blog actually- even though her friends do- just because I feel like it will lead to too much surfing.
My Space? NO WAY!!
I’m ready to look in to a Internet Filter… any suggestions?
Heather’s last blog post..Colors According To Sadie
February 25th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
You had me at your first argument. Again and again I hear parents complain about how much their kids lie to them. These are the parents who lie about their kids’ ages to get them in a cheaper movie - or on Myspace - right in front of them! Hello! Anybody in there???
nutmeg’s last blog post..Hear Us Roar
February 26th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
My kids are still pretty young, but I would not let them have a myspace account at 10 or even 14. I’d consider 16 with monitoring. I know we live in a technological world, but kids still need boundaries and good old fashioned rules!
Andrea’s last blog post..Warning Labels
February 29th, 2008 at 8:39 am
[…] idea of the games, people and sites their children are involved in, no matter how old the child is. The terms and conditions of these sites are set for a reason, abuse of them only creates problems. I’m also a firm believer in having access to all […]
April 6th, 2008 at 8:05 am
hi, i just stumbled on your post, its a good read, i personally think that if you teach your kids how to use the net properly (ie dont give out your name, or address, or phone number) and teach them all the bad things about the net (presuming that you know about them yourself) and (at least at first) supervies them when they are using the net, then they will be ok - most young kids (like 5 or 6 year olds) are only interested in the sitezs they see from the tv - little kids games, etc, older kids will want to explore (as kids do) i dont think this should be discouraged
jonathan’s last blog post..MySpace, Major Labels Join Forces for Online Music Store
April 16th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Quite an interesting point you have brought up, but the thing is, times are moving on now. If you stop kids using social bookmarking sites then they will still end up using them at school, their friends, behind your backs and so on.
Theres no real way to get around the issue of age consent, because its so easy to put a different date of birth. Agreed they do need more checks, or some way to control this, but I think the better option rather than trying to stop kids using sites like this is to educate them to what they’re for, how to use them properly/safely and constantly monitor them so that any sign of abuse can be picked up quickly.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:55 am
[…] got some rather interesting comments lately from an old post of mine about the underage usage of MySpace. I’m not sure about the rest of my blogging comrades, but I get as much traffic from my old […]
June 26th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
My Childrens mother has helped my 12 yr old daughter set up an account with myspace and yes has lied said she 14…And has some Nasty stuff on her page and nasty songs,Like[who the f is that]….[on my d],and the list keeps going etc but anyways I left her back in 1999 and have been married to someone else for nearly 20 yrs and is more like a real mother as in spending quality time with them.I let their mom borrow $15,000 and when she met another guy she decided she didnt owe this too us.and has married him and ive always been apart of their life and its been 6 months since theyve been here.I even told their mom to heck with the money i love my children still nuttin,anyways i am in the process of taking her t
June 26th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
oops ran out of room but i am taking her to family court for full custody for a whole lot of reasons with that being one she a dummy cause she has a myspace page also and decised to send my daughter a comment which puts her in the position of knowing whats going on if that makes sense,anyways i have pictures upon pictures of this i do hope its taken serious when going to court about the flat out dirty lie,makes me mad mad………..anyways ty for listening Peace
July 17th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
I honestly think that the more we hold are kids the harder they will push away. I am not saying let ur 10 year old talk to a forty year old on myspace at all, letting your child use a computer is based on trust. Not to mention if your kids are uncomfortable with someone on myspace anyone here ever heard the fact you can put them on your ignore list?! Anyways my point is thisd entire thing about watching your kid is bs! How did you like it when your parents were in the room listening to you talk on your phone? Yes we need to watch are kids but not at the expense of making them feel uncomfortable, irresponsible, not trusted, and violated by there parents! I know when I was little i didn’t like my parents ” reading” over my shoulder! Why should your kids. When you think they can be trusted go for it! Take the blocks of the interenet! But only when you think your kids are responsible enough to make the decission of when to say ” I am uncomfortable talking to this person on myspace so I am going to add them to my ignore list” When you think your kid can do that let them on sites like that untill then keep blocks on ” INAPROPREIT” sites and make sure youyr kid knows when to delete someone!