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Dangers Of MySpace
By Administrator | January 7, 2007
I have spoken to many parents about their struggle with MySpace and other social network sites. Many parents desire to allow their middle and high school aged children to participate in a healthy way and ask me just how bad MySpace is. Unfortunately, my experience and research continue to leave me very concerned about MySpace. But, there is hope for parents who would like for their children to participate.
First, let me state that you should speak with your youth group leader. He or she may or may not understand the dangers out there. Many youth group leaders concentrate on reaching the lost and orient students to be a light to the lost. I certainly would not want a youth group leader who did not have a passion for the lost. However, this passion can occasionally leave a youth group leader with a serious “blind spot” to the dangers of MySpace or other non-Christian social networking sites. I realize that you may not be able to change your youth group leaders mind, but ask him or her to support a Christian alternative to MySpace. If several students migrate to a Christian site it is likely to be used by the kids.
There are many alternatives that are now beginning to flourish. Here is a partial list:
dittytalk.com
xianz.com
mypraize.com
shoutlife.com
yourchristianspace.com
jcfaith.com
extremeyouth.com
As always, if you allow your child to use one of the alternatives, remember to teach them not to share personal information, always let you know of anything that makes them uncomfortable and never, ever arrange to meet someone without your permission and presence. For more information on safety tips visit http://cybersafetyseminar.com.
Another safety precaution is to get a filter that monitors your child’s conversations. At the Strohm household we let our children know that we will monitor all that goes and to make sure they don’t type anything they don’t want us to see! A wonderful filter that monitors conversations is called Safe Eyes. You can get more information here: SafeEyes
As always, parents must continue to monitor and watch what children are doing. Yes, we can begin to trust our children as they prove themselves trustworthy, however make sure you do not place your child where it is extremely difficult to do what is right or where they can get hurt!
May God’s grace and peace be with you,
Mark Strohm
Topics: From Mark, Parenting | 5 Comments »
January 8th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Excellent post, Mark! I’ve been wondering if there were any quality alternatives available. Thanks for listing these.
Also, I’ve added you to the blogroll at the Spiritual Oasis web site.
The Spiritual Oasis Blogroll
Blessings, -bill
January 9th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Has anyone used any of these sites?
January 9th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Mary,
My daughter and I have tried dittytalk. It is a nice site with many of the “bells and whistles” one would expect.
Mark
January 10th, 2007 at 5:17 am
Thanks that’s helpful
God bless
Maria in the UK
http://www.inhishands.co.uk
May 15th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
[...] a response to this question on her blog in which I pointed her to an excellent post by Mark Strohm (click here). Here, Mark offers a number of general suggestions and specific [...]