Question: My children have set up MySpace profiles, even though they were not supposed to. They insist that only their friends have access to their profiles, but how can a parent be sure? How do I know?
I just entered my daughter’s e-mail address and went straight to her page, although I could not go any further because I had to be a member to log in. Even at that, I was surprised at the info that was available.
They think they are so smart about how they manage their profiles. What can we do?- Nancy Heslin, via e-mail
A: Overnight, MySpace replaced the convenience store parking lot or mall fountain as a gathering place for children starting in junior high school or earlier.
As you indicate, each young user gets a home page containing a personal photo and a self-composed profile, as well as a message board to exchange info with friends and a blog spot to post thoughts with friends and others.
Put your foot down and demand that your children give you the same access that they give to their friends and other MySpace members. Then add that MySpace page to the Favorites in your own browser and make a daily practice of checking things out.
Better yet, take a couple of minutes and set up your own MySpace account so you can watch your children’s MySpace space as a logged-in user. Signup is quick and simple.
If you just go to http://www.myspace.com/ and browse the postings, you will find a range of age groups where children registered as being ages 14 and 15 are communicating with 30- and 35-year-old men and women and where few holds seem to be barred. MySpace operators post warnings that children must be 14 and must not lie about their age, but there is nothing to stop a much younger child from joining.
When a person signs up for a MySpace account, many privacy and security options can be set to minimize the downside on this Internet phenomenon that brings huge upside socializing for its audience.
For example, you can discourage unknown people from getting through to your child by requiring that a valid e-mail address be provided before that person can be added to the Friends list that is the heart and soul of this Web service designed to foster socializing.
Likewise, you can set the account to hide your children from being listed to all comers when they go online; you can stop others from passing along e-mail links to download your child’s photo and restrict blog posts to only people you know. You can even block the feature where music from a favorite band gets played when your child visits somebody else’s area on MySpace, which will guard against sexually and racially offensive lyrics.
As a parent, you even can order your children’s accounts closed by going to http://www.myspace.com/ and clicking on the Safety item at the bottom of the page.
You also can find links in a special parents’ area that point to software that can be installed on a computer to let you monitor every keystroke the children make and to otherwise watch and censor their access.