Myspace and Facebook: Unknown Dangers

Myspace and Facebook are popular websites that connect you to the social network around you. Though they are very addicting to have, we must learn that they come with dangers. The dangers are enough to explain that we shouldn’t be going on the site. But there are many things that we, parents and kids, can do to make these sites less of a threat, for the benefit of all.

The first step in making your account on Facebook/Myspace a safer place is to not accept people you know. There are 29,000 registered sex offenders on Myspace and Facebook. If one of them were to be your friend (on Myspace/Facebook not in real life), what do you think might happen to you? Not only could you let them view your site, but your friends’ sites as well; then all of them may be jeopardized by your actions. Certainly, this is not anything very good, I can say.

The second step is to, obviously, is to not put your name and address on your account. Give some fake address that has no relevance to where you really live. If you did happen to do this, anyone who had access to your site, could have access to your house, your belongings, and even your family. This is one of the worst things you can do. This not only puts you in danger, but your friends and family in danger as well.

The third step is to make sure that you restrict your account to anyone but you’re real, real, friends. The main thing about Myspace and Facebook is a social utility to connect you to the friends around you, not a social utility to connect you to every person on the site and possibly get kidnapped. Restricting is a handy tool, for that you can minimize the people that see your site to anyone, your friends, or even just one person. By restricting your website, only your friends can see, talk, and hear from you. This makes your account a whole ton more secure.

The fourth step is to recognize when people are acting strange. When I say strange, I mean asking for your number, asking where you live, asking if you are a boy or a girl, and what not. When people do this, it is a bit obvious that they don’t just want to know you. If this does happen, immediatly end the conversation. Then, don’t let the person every see you again. Make yourself invisible to the person be restricting her of her. This way, there is one less person who can cause you a problem on the site.

The fifth step is to not go into groups that you don’t know. Only go into groups that your friends invite you to. If someone you don’t know asks you to go into a group that you don’t know, simply ignore the message. Being in a group means that you are not only vulnerable to one person, but now, many people. This is an easy thing to do; just look, and deny.

The sixth step is to not go into the house of anyone whom you met on Facebook/Myspace. This is obviously, a very stupid thing to do. It is like asking a stranger on the street if you could go to their house. It is completely barbaric. This is the cause that led to the statistic of that there are 600,000 registered sex offenders on the website. Every one in 20 has a Myspace profile. That means that there is a .05 percent chance of getting kidnapped by one of those sex offenders. I may sound small, but it is a very big number we are talking about.

The seventh step is to not say where you are going on the weekend. That is a just a bit less stupid that saying where you live. When you give the name of where you are going to go in the weekend, you are giving access to 20,000 sex offenders who could possibly come there and take you, remove you from existence, and never bring you back.

The eighth step is to not visit anyone’s site you do not know. That is like asking a stranger to go to dinner with you. It is definitely not a very smart thing to do. The person who owns that site might manipulate you to do whatever he wants you to do.

The final step is to tell your parents in anything goes wrong. Your parents should be the first ones to know about anything and everything. They deserve to know if you do anything out of the ordinary.

In conclusion, I can say that I might make it look like Myspace and Facebook are not very harmful places if you do the right thing, but in reality, they are. I believe that Myspace and Facebook are some of the major causes of sexual abuse.