Is Kids' Openness About Risky Activities Good Or Bad?

from the just-wondering... dept

Tue, Jan 6th 2009 2:56pm — Mike Masnick

There's a moral panic style study being released that claims that many teens "display risky behavior" on MySpace. Of course, when you look at the details, it's not quite so fear-inducing at all. Basically, some kids talk about drinking, drugs and sex online. That's nothing new. But the way this study is being presented, it makes it sound as if the risky behavior is the fact that kids are talking about this stuff. The article doesn't talk about the actual drugs and sex so much as the talking about it, as if that's the problem:

Many young people who use social networking sites such as News Corp's MySpace do not realize how public they are and may be opening themselves to risks

That seems backwards to me. It would seem a lot better to find out that kids are actually talking about this stuff openly, where they can (hopefully) get good advice to keep themselves safe, rather than keeping quiet and experimenting totally in secret. Yes, there definitely are some risks involved in talking about this stuff publicly. For years, we've wondered what will happen when the MySpace generation runs for office, and we've also seen how social networking profiles can be used against an individual in pursuing a career. Of course, there are some who wonder if this widespread openness will lead to a more accepting population. For example the fact that Barack Obama used cocaine at one point in his life was barely mentioned at all during the campaign -- in part because he had openly admitted to it years earlier. It's only the surprise "gotcha" type info that seems to cause real problems.

That isn't to say that kids today shouldn't be at least aware of the potential consequences of over-sharing information, but I worry that a study like the one being discussed here leads to eventual misplaced blame and worries over a problem that might not be nearly as significant as some make it out to be.

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Filed Under: children, moral panic, openness, studies

6 Comments

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Ha Ha, 6 Jan 2009 @ 5:06pm

We've long lost the "bedroom eyes" that my grandparents spoke of when seeing young people gawk at each other. Too bad nothing will be sacred before long. :-(
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dude101, 6 Jan 2009 @ 5:20pm

Ever be denied for a job by an employer because they found your opps "private blog" with pics of you drinking and acting like a fool at 2am at some dive down the street with a bunch of slutty chicks? If I was hiring then myspace, facebook, and good ole google search would be my source of a background check.

My best friend was denied from police academy because of myspace. Its not that dumb and backwards. Don't put this stuff on the airwaves and then expect no one to find it
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2009 @ 5:38pm

Re:
you sure it wasnt from those pictures of him at the stripper party and the donkey?
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m@dh@kr, 6 Jan 2009 @ 5:38pm

Re:
Very true dude101... Not to mention those sites provide mountains of data to social engineer and exploit / black mail someone. Not only are these people putting revealing personal information... a friend who has a myspace / facebook / (insert site here) will reveal information accidentally about their closest friends...
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2009 @ 6:36pm

The dangers are rather real. I understand where Mike was saying that there seems to be a "Speak no evil, hear no evil, do no evil" tone to the article.

However from time to time my friends will play a game to see how well we can internet stalk the other person and see how much info we can gleam with random bits of information a stranger would happen across. A screen name, an email address, full actual name. Maybe combinations of that and see where the path will lead. I deleted all my social networking information I could find, those will lead stalkers to a treasure trove of information about you. Your friends will talk about you and they are linked in your profile typically... it's insane. Also do you REALLY want your current girlfriend to get curious about your past? Or even see what some of your not so nice friends had to say about her haircut a few months back? Sure maybe you wouldn't want a chick like this that will dig around... but you get the idea.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jan 2009 @ 7:40pm

These kinds of studies are really little more than cases of fear mongering combined with extreme cluelessness. I went to 4 grammar schools and 2 high schools when I was a kid and I can tell you that kids today are not significantly different from the kids 20-30 years ago. I remember being in 4th grade and coming across a couple 6th graders kissing in the bushes behind the school. I knew plenty of HSers and even some Jr. HSers that drank, did weed (or occasionally harder drugs), engaged in sexual activities, or smoked (hell I smoked for three months when I was 15 until I realized it was dumb). The only difference now is that technology has allowed more people to realize these activities are not isolated or infrequent activities, but are in fact rather commonplace. Of course people who really need something like the internet to tell them that were never really paying attention anyways, so it's no surprise to me, that these fact are a surprise to them.
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