MySpace taunting: a good thing?
Monday, March 19th, 2007The SF Chronicle had a story on online taunting the other day:
Nationwide, more than four in 10 teens have been victims of taunts and threats via social network Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook, instant messages and text messages from cell phones, a new survey says. One in eight reported feeling scared enough to stay home from school, according to the survey by the National Crime Prevention Council.
What I want to know is how many of those teens only receive threats and taunts online. A lot of that bullying is probably going on in person. The difference is that the onliine bullying leaves a trail. It reminds me of the parents who sued MySpace, and lost, because their children had been the victims of sexual predators. Is MySpace creating increased crime? Or is it a honeypot that catches crime that would have otherwise been undetected? I say honeypot, but that’s a hard thing to say to the MySpace mothers whose children had been safe up until that point.
