Not in My Space

Over the last decade, the number of teens and preteens using websites like MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo has skyrocketed. Kids use their profiles to blog, share pictures, and make virtual “friends.” While social networking sites have ­become increasingly popular, the personalized webpages teens create can actually do more harm than good. ­Because of cyberbullies, sexual predators, and the risk of sabotaging their own future, young people should not create accounts on these sites, regardless of the peer pressure to do so.

Today's bullies are no longer ­confined to the playground. Statistics show that 58 percent of adolescents ­report being harassed on the Internet, with more than 40 percent saying it happened more than once.
These verbal attacks, which tend to be more rampant for girls, can have devastating psychological effects. In 2006, 13-year-old Megan Meier was the victim of brutal cyberbullying, which is believed to have led to her suicide. Though that is an extreme case, many young people who are ­subjected to online torment become very upset and end up feeling isolated. Bullying will never be completely eliminated, but teens can avoid online harassment by staying away from sites that facilitate it.

Key features of social networking sites are the ability to post pictures, comments, and video that can be viewed by other users. But some young people fail to realize that that audience can include future employers and college admissions personnel, who use these sites to see if the teen is engaging in undesirable behavior, including drugs, alcohol, and other illegal acts like tagging. Also, something as seemingly harmless as a suggestive picture or distasteful comment can hurt a young person's future. Any online profile can be viewed as easily as looking up an applicant's transcript.

Some teens think that what they do now won't affect them in the future. But these investigations really do happen, and what you type now can come back to haunt you. Pictures and text are easy to copy, so even if the content is removed, scandalous duplicates may still be circulating in cyberspace that the originator can do nothing about.

Behind the mask of a computer screen, it's impossible to tell whether someone is being truthful about their age, gender, ­location, name – basically anything. Such anonymity entices adult sexual predators into social networking sites popular with adolescents. It is ridiculously simple for a 40-year-old man to digitally disguise himself as a 16-year-old girl and offer to meet up with a new friend. According to a 2006 survey, he will be successful a frightening 30 percent of the time. Most teens claim that they would catch on in a case like this, but ­pedophiles are sadistically shrewd and will use any tactics (including adopting an alter-ego) to get to those they want.

MySpace, Facebook, and similar sites are dangerous for adolescents who ignore the risks. These websites harbor mean-spirited cyberbullies who can damage a young person's self-­esteem. In addition, an offensive comment or racy picture posted now could limit college and job opportunities for years to come. And even scarier, young people who use these sites are at risk of being solicited for sex.

Even though these social networking sites are considered trendy, before clicking “Join Now,” young people should first consider the words of poet Robert Frost: “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less ­traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” Teens with a social networking profile are opening themselves up to many potentially life-­altering risks that could be avoided.