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Teens Blogger

Teens have taken to blogging and social networking in a big way. Like several Internet services adopted by the youth market, blogging has come under the gun of concerned parents decrying the dangers of posting personal information online. True, there are risks in revealing addresses, phone numbers, and even real names (not fictional screen names) in any public online environment. But this issue is hardly new and not unique to blogging. Parents should administer all aspects of a child’s online citizenry.
Some social networking services attract huge numbers of kids. These sites become hangout spots where kids feel they must be seen. They put up pages, write blog entries, post photos, instant message each other, and in other ways have a fine time frolicking in the Internet playground. Xanga and MySpace.com are two such destinations. Xanga requires users to be at least 13 years old, in MySpace the age barrier is set at 16. Young kids routinely and successfully lie about their ages, that’s one fact of life parents should know. Kids of all ages should certainly be counseled about remaining unlocatable in public online communities. Addresses and phone numbers should never be posted. Full names should be avoided, especially if the user’s home town is mentioned.
Many kids upload photos and can be recognized by their friends that way, screen identities can also be shared privately. Underlying these details should be a general parental awareness of social networks, how they work, which ones are being used, and how they are being used. Alarmist and panic, though, as you sometimes read about in newspaper stories, is uncalled for. Actual harm resulting from online stalking is exceptionally rare. Harm to a child is always tragic, but the very few instances resulting from millions of teen blogs and social networking pages make it clear that blogging is safer than walking down the street. It’s probably safer than eating cafeteria food.