What is wrong with these two stories from the online editions of two different newspapers? Is it that both site "experts" and yet give completely contrary advice? Or is it that one praises MySpace, while the other says that it is akin to an "Internet's red-light district"? Who are parents to believe?
At least somebody is "thinking of the children". In reality both articles are kinda correct. Yes, there are people out there who want to do awful things to teens, and yes they are going to look for teens online. This does not mean that you should ban you kids from MySpace or the Internet. Yes, MySpace is a great place for kids to interact and meet people. This does not meany you should you let them totally run rampant and never worry about what they are doing online.
One of my former co-workers used to say that one of the problems with how people view behavior in new technology is that people always try to blame the technology for the behavior. So if there are creeps online stalking teens the focus is always on the "online" part and not the behavior.
Or it could all just be a stupid discussion that only old, out-of-touch people have while the youth of the world reinvent their world with the internet. The hell with it, just watch this video.
Funny video.
Although humor and disrespect were playing on a fine line at times...
Humor and disrespect are always playing on a fine line.
Posted by: Noah at February 20, 2006 06:09 PMoh man! Demetri Martin is the best!
speaking of the issue, I was livid when I found my 13 year old sister's profile on myspace saying she was 18... livid!! worse yet, she didn't even know it was up there... apparently a school chum did it without asking her...
but how can you stop the tidal wave of free-flowing information... good or bad... it'll only get worse... somewhere I read (maybe wired) that verichip is planning on implanting people with medical records, etc... benign at first but where will it stop?
Posted by: Ryan at February 20, 2006 11:28 PMMaybe it's because I'm over 50, or maybe my low techno ceiling is being exposed, but when I push the "play" button on the video, I get either a message telling me there is no video, or a big black screen.
Is this reinventing the world with the Internet?
Posted by: brad at February 27, 2006 06:52 PMWell Brad, welcome to a brave new world where content which should be available suddenly disapears. My best guess is that this video, which was violating Comedy Centrals copyright was removed by Google. Luckily it is still currently available on the Comedy Central site. Just click on the "Trendspotting: Social Networking" video on this page: http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/demetri_martin/index.jhtml
I can't guarantee you will like the video, but it is good.
Posted by: Noah Brimhall at February 27, 2006 07:32 PM