CC’s Library 2.0 Class Musings

I recently listened to a broadcast on a local talk radio show that discussed “Parenting Tech-Savvy Kids” by Vicki Courtney with family expert Dr. Jim Burns with HomeWord.  A guest on the show shared that her 16-year old daughter had committed suicide in 2006, after having becoming involved with a guy whom she had met through MySpace.  Her daughter was a straight-A, popular and pretty girl with whom she had several guidelines for her use of the computer and the Internet.   The daughter complied, but then used the school library and public library’s computers to create a MySpace profile where she met a guy, who disguised his age, and became romantically involved with him.  After she confessed the relationship with the guy to her parents and that he was actually 28 years old, she became depressed and even though she started counseling session and began taking medication, she committed suicide 4 months after the relationship became exposed.  This probably isn’t the first story we’ve heard about a MySpace relationship gone wrong.   While this took place in 2006, there are more security measures in place now than there were then, but it still should make us be aware of the “loopholes”.

I’ve read in comments in several blog posts that we need to help ensure a safe online experience.   The Librarian in Black cited that Susan Herzog presented at the Internet Librarian 2007 Conference on the subject of Facebook:  “The Facebook Phenomenon:  What Our Students Need to Know“.  I thought Herzog’s comment that librarians should educate students on the dangers and/or consequences of posting personal information in a public place was applicable because libraries are giving an access point to a potential danger.  Herzong also recommended that library staff need to be educated about the software so that they can participate intelligently in these discussions.  We’re often trained on how to use the social network or other Web 2.0 tools, but how much time is spent on understanding security issues, especially when there are so many children under 18 years are using these tools?

The Librarian in Black commented that an article from Electronic Frontier Foundation cites two studies that show that young people are able to detect unsafe contact, protect themselves, and use good judgement online as well as in-person.    

I thought Dr. Burns’ statement was right on when he said that our kids still need us (as parents) to “be the parents” and establish the structure they need to have a safe online experience.