Teens go online to socialize
By Dolly A. Butz Journal staff writer | Posted: Friday, February 24, 2006
Sioux City teenager Caitlin Salem shows her Facebook profile that she created online on her home computer. (Staff photo by Jerry Mennenga)
Sioux City North High School freshman Caitlin Salem checks her Facebook profile daily.
Facebook, a social networking site for high school and college students and alumni, allows Caitlin to chat with friends, post pictures, view a "wall" of impersonal messages and keep up with her cheerleading squad's latest schedule changes, all from her home computer.
Caitlin and many other Sioux City teens have discovered "Facebook is pretty addictive."
Emily, a sophomore at East High School who wishes to withhold her last name, said she thinks about MySpace, an interactive network of user profiles, blogs, photos and groups, just about every moment of the day. After school, she said she spends most of her time on MySpace, improving her profile or messaging friends.
"It's very popular," she said of MySpace. "It's how I've made a lot of my friends."
MySpace, which is ranked fifth on Alexa Internet's top 500 sites, was founded in July 2003 by Tom Anderson, an alumnus of the University of California-Berkeley and UCLA, and Chris DeWolfe, a graduate of the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business. Rupert Murdoch's New Corporation, the parent company of Fox Broadcasting, bought MySpace in July for $580 million.
Facebook, founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz at Harvard University, is open to users at more than 2,500 colleges, universities and high schools.
Similar social networking sights, such as Xanga and LiveJournal, have also surged in popularity with teens.
According to a study conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 57 percent of teens post content online. The nature of that content and who might be viewing it, however, has caused controversy nationwide.
Social networking sites allow teens to meet new people and interact with friends, but technology security experts say these sites are also being used by sexual predators to stalk their victims.
Last year the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported 1,224 incidents of online enticement of children.
Police in Middletown, Conn., and Newark, N.J., are investigating recent assaults and murders thought to have been committed by perpetrators the victims may have met on MySpace.
Although Sioux City Police Sgt. Rex Mueller said he is not aware of similar incidents happening in Sioux City, he said predators are more than likely communicating with minors online.
"I think there are people who are probably making contact with Sioux City children, but whether it has actually manifested itself into luring a child away to this point, I would say nothing that we are aware of."
Deb Hale, a technology security specialist and co-chair of CyberWellness of Siouxland, an organization that teaches parents and students about online safety, said most parents "don't have a clue" about what's going on in their own homes.
While browsing profiles on MySpace, Hale found the profiles of several adult males linked with those of teen girls.
Unlike Facebook, which requires a university or high school e-mail address to register, anyone with access to a computer can view or create profiles on MySpace. The site requires users to be 14 or older and warns users not to post "personally identifiable material," but predators, as well as teens, can easily get around the rules, according to Hale.
"There's nothing to stop a 52-year-old man from signing up as a 13-, 14-, 15-year-old boy and pursuing these girls," she said.
While Emily said she has never been contacted by anyone suspicious online, she said her friends have received messages from older men. Although Emily has chosen to maintain her blog, in spite of potential dangers, she said she has taken steps to stay safe, such as removing personal information and only posting content she wouldn't mind anyone reading. She said she has even shared her profile with her mom.
"I think it actually made us closer," she said. "She learned a lot of little things she didn't know about me."
Caitlin has also shared her Facebook profile with her mother, Denise Salem.
After sitting down with Caitlin and viewing her profile, Salem, a co-chair of CyberWellness of Siouxland, said her profile was what she expected.
While Salem said parents can't constantly monitor what their children are doing online, she said they can keep them safe by educating them about the dangers.
"There's somewhat of a red flag in the back of your mind with things like that," she said. "We can't monitor her 24/7, so I think the best defense is empowering her with a lot of facts and a lot of knowledge."
Dolly Butz may be contacted at (712) 293-4275 or dollybutz@siouxcityjournal.com.
No secrets online
Profanity, explicit photos, gossip, threats and references to alcohol, drugs and suicide are commonplace on many profiles.
A 16-year-old teen writes, "I'd like to end this madness" on her MySpace profile while a picture of her pointing her hand like a gun to her head flashes across the screen. A 17-year-old writes, "I like to just hangout with the homies and smoke pot till I can't no more."
Scandalous photos and off the cuff comments posted on sites such as MySpace and Facebook have landed some teens is trouble with law enforcement and school officials.
The Sioux City School District has blocked access to social networking sites.
"We've had a couple of different complaints that those sites weren't appropriate," Roger Lobitz, director of technology for the school district, said. "We don't think those sites are that safe for kids, so we block them."
Superintendent Larry Williams said he is not aware of any violations related to MySpace and Facebook at Sioux City schools, but he said "action would be taken" if an investigation determined violations had been committed.
While Kathleen Richardson, executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom and Information Council, said Iowa students generally have more free speech rights than students in a lot of other states, she said there's a difference between being punished for their speech and being punished for their activities.
Under the Iowa Code, students cannot express or publish information that is obscene or libelous, encourages other students to commit unlawful acts or disrupts normal school operations.
Richardson said students need to think about the potential consequences before posting information online.
"Once something is on the Internet it's there forever," she said. "I think we're coming closer to the age or maybe we already are where if there's some information about you, favorable or not, someone's going to look at it eventually and it might come back to haunt you."
Richardson said universities and employers may be gaining access to sites such as Facebook to check on students and potential employees.
"I think a lot of young people don't really have a firm grasp when they post something online of the repercussions of that," she said. "Students are being unrealistic if they think they can post something on the Internet and it's going to be private."
Facebook, a social networking site for high school and college students and alumni, allows Caitlin to chat with friends, post pictures, view a "wall" of impersonal messages and keep up with her cheerleading squad's latest schedule changes, all from her home computer.
Caitlin and many other Sioux City teens have discovered "Facebook is pretty addictive."
Emily, a sophomore at East High School who wishes to withhold her last name, said she thinks about MySpace, an interactive network of user profiles, blogs, photos and groups, just about every moment of the day. After school, she said she spends most of her time on MySpace, improving her profile or messaging friends.
"It's very popular," she said of MySpace. "It's how I've made a lot of my friends."
MySpace, which is ranked fifth on Alexa Internet's top 500 sites, was founded in July 2003 by Tom Anderson, an alumnus of the University of California-Berkeley and UCLA, and Chris DeWolfe, a graduate of the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business. Rupert Murdoch's New Corporation, the parent company of Fox Broadcasting, bought MySpace in July for $580 million.
Facebook, founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz at Harvard University, is open to users at more than 2,500 colleges, universities and high schools.
Similar social networking sights, such as Xanga and LiveJournal, have also surged in popularity with teens.
According to a study conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 57 percent of teens post content online. The nature of that content and who might be viewing it, however, has caused controversy nationwide.
Social networking sites allow teens to meet new people and interact with friends, but technology security experts say these sites are also being used by sexual predators to stalk their victims.
Last year the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported 1,224 incidents of online enticement of children.
Police in Middletown, Conn., and Newark, N.J., are investigating recent assaults and murders thought to have been committed by perpetrators the victims may have met on MySpace.
Although Sioux City Police Sgt. Rex Mueller said he is not aware of similar incidents happening in Sioux City, he said predators are more than likely communicating with minors online.
"I think there are people who are probably making contact with Sioux City children, but whether it has actually manifested itself into luring a child away to this point, I would say nothing that we are aware of."
Deb Hale, a technology security specialist and co-chair of CyberWellness of Siouxland, an organization that teaches parents and students about online safety, said most parents "don't have a clue" about what's going on in their own homes.
While browsing profiles on MySpace, Hale found the profiles of several adult males linked with those of teen girls.
Unlike Facebook, which requires a university or high school e-mail address to register, anyone with access to a computer can view or create profiles on MySpace. The site requires users to be 14 or older and warns users not to post "personally identifiable material," but predators, as well as teens, can easily get around the rules, according to Hale.
"There's nothing to stop a 52-year-old man from signing up as a 13-, 14-, 15-year-old boy and pursuing these girls," she said.
While Emily said she has never been contacted by anyone suspicious online, she said her friends have received messages from older men. Although Emily has chosen to maintain her blog, in spite of potential dangers, she said she has taken steps to stay safe, such as removing personal information and only posting content she wouldn't mind anyone reading. She said she has even shared her profile with her mom.
"I think it actually made us closer," she said. "She learned a lot of little things she didn't know about me."
Caitlin has also shared her Facebook profile with her mother, Denise Salem.
After sitting down with Caitlin and viewing her profile, Salem, a co-chair of CyberWellness of Siouxland, said her profile was what she expected.
While Salem said parents can't constantly monitor what their children are doing online, she said they can keep them safe by educating them about the dangers.
"There's somewhat of a red flag in the back of your mind with things like that," she said. "We can't monitor her 24/7, so I think the best defense is empowering her with a lot of facts and a lot of knowledge."
Dolly Butz may be contacted at (712) 293-4275 or dollybutz@siouxcityjournal.com.
No secrets online
Profanity, explicit photos, gossip, threats and references to alcohol, drugs and suicide are commonplace on many profiles.
A 16-year-old teen writes, "I'd like to end this madness" on her MySpace profile while a picture of her pointing her hand like a gun to her head flashes across the screen. A 17-year-old writes, "I like to just hangout with the homies and smoke pot till I can't no more."
Scandalous photos and off the cuff comments posted on sites such as MySpace and Facebook have landed some teens is trouble with law enforcement and school officials.
The Sioux City School District has blocked access to social networking sites.
"We've had a couple of different complaints that those sites weren't appropriate," Roger Lobitz, director of technology for the school district, said. "We don't think those sites are that safe for kids, so we block them."
Superintendent Larry Williams said he is not aware of any violations related to MySpace and Facebook at Sioux City schools, but he said "action would be taken" if an investigation determined violations had been committed.
While Kathleen Richardson, executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom and Information Council, said Iowa students generally have more free speech rights than students in a lot of other states, she said there's a difference between being punished for their speech and being punished for their activities.
Under the Iowa Code, students cannot express or publish information that is obscene or libelous, encourages other students to commit unlawful acts or disrupts normal school operations.
Richardson said students need to think about the potential consequences before posting information online.
"Once something is on the Internet it's there forever," she said. "I think we're coming closer to the age or maybe we already are where if there's some information about you, favorable or not, someone's going to look at it eventually and it might come back to haunt you."
Richardson said universities and employers may be gaining access to sites such as Facebook to check on students and potential employees.
"I think a lot of young people don't really have a firm grasp when they post something online of the repercussions of that," she said. "Students are being unrealistic if they think they can post something on the Internet and it's going to be private."
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