DO YOU THINK ITS SAFE FOR CHILDREN TO BE ON MYSPACE

I wish people would stop blaming myspace for everything! How is myspace supposed to stop these sick pedophiles? Ask for ID? but anyone could show another persons id and pretend to be that person! Do background checks on everyone? How is myspace any different then going into a yahoo chatroom and having a profile there? It's NOT! Myspace has made it so that you can set your profile to PRIVATE so that only people on your friends list can see your profile. Parents are the ones to blame for not monitoring what their kids do on myspace. Ive seen a lot of myspace profiles where teenagers put revealing pics of themselves up or even list their addresses and cell phone numbers! How is it myspaces fault? Just because they are THE biggest online community around right now?

i am 19 years old and i have a 13 year old sister who has been on myspace for about a year now. at first i told her that she was not allowed to have one but i knew that wasn't going to work considering all of her friends had it because their parents either didn't know or didn't care. instead of telling her that she couldn't have one [because i knew she would make one anyway] i made a deal with her and told her that it had to be set to private in order for her to have one. i also told her that she is only allowed to accept people that she knows [such as family, friends from school, or friends of myself or our other sister] i told her no strangers and especially no older people. i do go on her page and check our her friends every once in a while and she has followed these guidelines. i do believe that myspace may not be safe for young children who keep their profile public but that's when the parents need to step in and give their children some rules.

i think are blaming others way too much. parents need to monitor young children on the internet in general...myspace is not to blame. also now, they have the privacy setting to anyone under the age of 14. no one can send them a message or view their profile. parents also have to talk to their children and make sure they know the dangers and take them through the proper steps of chatting/talking/meeting someone online. i never did have this talk with my parents because they didn't know anything about the internet, but most of it is basic knowledge that i learned through life. anywhere on the internet preditors can get at your children. parents should stop blaming everyone else and start looking at themselves. if they teach/educate their children and become involved enough in their life that they'll be easily able to monitor the happenings online, then there shouldn't be a problem with your child having a website.

i don't think that it is safe ever to allow children through myspace, like what you've said those sites are full of perverts and adult stuffs! think about its influence on their mind if they visit, see, and read what's on it....it will just make them like those indicent people. parents should be aware that accessing this site is open to all, even children so therefore they must warned their kids and be responsible enough for protecting them on those kind of sites.

Yes, it's safe. Just make sure your child knows the risks involved, and that bad things can happen if they try to meet someone they met on Myspace in real life, and that they know not to give out personal information. It's a trust thing, in my opinion.

I don't have any children, but I have a 10 year old sister who goes on myspace regularly. She also has a bunch of friends doing the same thing at her age. When I found out about this it made me feel uncomfortable. I told her how I felt so she set her profile to private, but anyone can pose as anybody on the internet and youngsters can be easily lured into something. So I think myspace should regulate this, but I honestly think kids might find ways around them. Myspace should have a team of profile moderators and send warnings, or simply delete the profiles that are obviously owned by someone below 16. I've come across profiles (from my sister's friend's list) where it is so obvious that the person is below 16 just by looking at their pictures. But, like I said before, kids might find a way around this by lying and saying the person in the pic is a younger sibling, or post pics of older people and so on.

I only signed up for myspace so I could keep track of my daughter. The rule is, she has to give me her password and if she changes it, she has to give me her new password and I can check anytime to see what she is up to. People over 18 cannot find a person under 18's profile in search. I also check in often to see who is saying what to her and she tells me if she suspects anything but I have to tell you that both she and I get hit on all the time on yahoo messenger, for me, it is daily. It does not matter that I tell them I am happily married either. Why aren't people more concerned about yahoo messenger? I actually met my husband on that. You can narrow people down regardless of age, by location and keywords on yahoo messenger. With myspace it is not nearly as easy, especially for minors. My neice, nephew and cousins' kid are also on myspace and I keep an eye on their friends and the comments they get and what they are putting in their blog too in addition to keeping an eye on my daughter so if anything were happening, I would know. I am positive the messengers pose a far greater danger.

It is not that safe but it is not compelety unsafe

I think by not allowing children on MySpace, they are going to want it more. Instead, inform them about these men out there. Don't leave them home alone to meet these guys. And tell them that even people saying they are the same age as them might not be. If they are just talking to their friends on there, that's better. If they do talk to others, just make sure they aren't meeting them in person. At least not without your supervision.

If you REALLY want to be on myspace, set your page to private. Especially children. Drum it into their heads that they are not to take friend requests from anyone unless they know the person! If my child wanted to be on myspace, I would insist on being in their friends space and would look at it often!

I really don't think it's safe for them to post their personal info on there, such as city, state, phone, address, birthdate, etc.. And I don't think it's appropriate for 10-17 year olds to post provocative pictures of themselves or their friends on there! I don't allow my kids online at all until they are 13, unless it's for homework and I'm right there, and even when they are over 13, I watch where they go, and look at the history if I have to walk away for a second. I think people really need to pay more attention to their kids when they are on the computer! Good Post!

No I don't think it's a good idea for children to be on myspace. Like another poster said I think the age limit should be like 16 and up. It's two easy for them to come across something inappropriate, even if they weren't looking for that kind of thing.

Not really but I don't think they should be banned entirely either. I'm talking about teenagers mostly. On one hand, Myspace is too huge and chaotic to let kids post and roam freely. There should be an alternate site that kid's get redirected to, but parents should be monitoring their kid's usage. Ultimately it is the parents responsibility to watch out for their safety.

I'm 16 and I use myspace regularly. I've always considered myspace to be "pedo paradise". There IS an age restriction on there and it's supposed to be 16 and older. If you're under 16 they set your page to private for non-friends automatically unless you change the settings.. or something of the like. Unfortunately there's nothing you can do about it, the internet is full of predators. As long as people are careful about who they're talking to (I don't mean just children, I'm talking about all ages.) and they don't give out personal information, it's not too bad. But it's also recommended parents monitor the websites their children go on. And you can block certain websites so your kids can't access them.

I think it deppend on how your children use that service. we all know a predator perverts is always be there or anywhere offline and online. just be careful and guidance your children how to use that and tell them to stay away from some weird people.

Sure, children should be allowed on MySpace...but the parent should be supervising what happens. We don't need more regulations; we need more parents actually PARENTING and not expecting the government or somebody else to take care of their children.

I completely agree with you. Younger children..especially preteens and younger teens should not be on there. Myspace..just like theDilly, friendster, and other sites.. even just plain dating sites like Yahoo.. you don't know who/what is on there. It's a scary world out there.. filled with scary people.. and young people should not be exposed to all that for as long as humanly possible. I remember my parents getting upset with me for joining theDilly at 16..and I began meeting people offline when I was almost 18.. and they were less than pleased...one thing I always made sure I did was get to know the person as much as possible and have them come to my house to meet my parents or go with friends to meet them..I wasn't ever alone. In retrospect I can see how stupid my actions were..and how lucky I am to have been safe in those situations because there have been others who have not been so lucky.. There have been people off all those sites that have had horrible things happen to them. I just pray for a better world..and until that happens..keep your kids off those sites!!

It's not safe. I got into a lot of trouble online as a kid. Way too many adults out there preying on the kids. If you want to sit with your children while they surf that is one thing. I don't believe in letting them have free run on a computer after my own issues.

it is safe as long as they set their profiles to private and don't accept people they don't know to be their friends

You know I am not that familiar with myspace. I mean I know what it is but I don't use it. From everything I hear it is not good for children. It is so hard to monitor everything your kids do online but I have warned my daughter to stay away from it.