Headlines from the Culture of Fear
Posted by anastasia on 11-16-2005
When you Google teens and Web in Google News you get headlines like this:
Sex Predators Hunt For Teens Online
WOAI, TX – 4 hours ago
… In the first 10 minutes I watched, a predator talked dirty, sent a naked picture of himself and offered to send the “child” a web camera. …
Dangers of Web Blogs
6abc.com, PA – 16 hours ago
… has brought attention to the growing use of what’s known as web blogs … there.” Bonnici also suggests parents use IDtheCreep.com to teach young teens and children …
As teens embrace blogs, schools sound an alarm
CNET News.com, United States – Nov 15, 2005
… data may be nothing new, but it’s become more relevant than ever as a greater number of teens not only surf the Net but also populate it with Web logs and …
Teens more exposed online than you know Modesto Bee
Houston, we have a problem here…
Categorized under: Web
November 16th, 2005 at 1:49 pm
Here at CPYU I have been speaking to schools and parent groups for awhile now about Xanga, MySpace, etc. THis initially grew out of some local incidents, and when people hear the word Xanga they freak out. We want to educate parents, in a fair way as to what these sites are, how teens use them, why they use them, and both the pros and cons of the sites. This has escalated a bit since this most recent case in Lititz is right here in our own county and backyard. The local newspaper just interviewed one of us about this and we are trying to address it in a very evenhanded fashion. On the one hand, we think parents should be aware of the sites, and maybe even should use the sites as a “window” into the world of teens and their own kids. On the other hand we don’t want parents to freak out and shut down the sites, but rather use them as a way of addressing problems that might exist in a child’s life, i.e. see some of what kids write as a cry for help. We understand that these sites can provide some very healthy things for kids, while also presenting some dangers. Unfortunately the only time we hear about them in the media is when something like this happens. Murder, Suicide, Violence, etc. As a result, parents view these sites as bad things.In the end, our goal is to educate parents, and hopefully build bridges between them and their kids.
This is something that is going to be in the news for a long time.