Is "My Space" safe for children?

Question

I am worried that "My Space" isn't safe for my daughter. Does anyone think this might draw out child molesters and sickos? My daughter is asking to join it and I am worried?

My daughter is 10 and a few of her friends are on it

Answer 1

I would not let a child join- it is way to easy for them to post too much information abou themselves. I see no reason for a child to find new friends on the internet. I just got my first myspace page and I was hesitant to do it. I have the highest level of privacy and don't even have a pictue posted there yet. I joined only for the purpose of catching up with old friends who I have lost track with.

As far as I know there is no verification of any of my information. I could have posted any age, city, name anything- Myapce did not even ask for my address- there is no way for them to verify the info posted.

The other thing I have noticed is that people can be very obscene on myspace- your child may be doing an innocent search for a friend and happen onto a profile that is very obscene. Adults should take extreme caution when using my space. Children should not use myspace.

Plus I saw a thing on Dateline about predators who found children online.

Even though they say someone over 18 cant talk to a minor- they have no way of verifying the ages of the people- Someone ove 18 can say they are 13 and then chat with your daughter. I would not let my daughter join.

Answer 2

As a 17yr old i honestly tell you that it is not safe at all. I tell all my friends and we inform others that it is not safe. Children are very vonerable when it comes to all of those sickos online. So take care of your daughter and if you asked this question it is because you care and love her. If you want to protect her inform her that myspace is not safe. Go through some of the profiles that teens have online at myspace now a day's. I went through it with my parents and we found very sick people. There is girls who are getting followed and raped just because someone got a hold of there profile through someone and looked up the girls address where they live and through their blog, (sometimes girls say where they will be!) and guys just follow them and well you know. Your daughter may get upset because you didn't allow her to get a myspace but she will thank you someday, because you are doing it to protect her.
This is just my opinion be very careful where your daughter goes online. Kids, Teen, and even adults cause lots of pain through the internet your child is never safe. There is a lot of people who enjoy hurting others and kids are like i said before vonderable.

At least if you do allow her a myspace check up on her ask her to view her profile ever now and then. And most important to make her profile private. (which is not entirely safe but it's a little better)

Good luck

Answer 3

no, it's not safe for kids, or teenagers (especially girls)

Supposedly News Corp (the owner of the site) has put in place some obstacles for molestors (such as making it so that, if you're an older user, you can't see the profile of someone under 14 without them sending you an invite . .

but what is to prevent a molestor from just creating a profile and putting in the age field "12" or "10"

it is very irresponsible for MySpace to not be doing far more to protect kids from predators.

I would block MySpace on your computer (so your daughter can't get to it) . .

email me to find out how if you don't know:

[e-mail]

Answer 4

Let me tell you what happened to me briefly...On a yahoo profile pic, my girlfriend put up a pic of her and my daughter. All was fine until she got a IM from this guy. Wanted to know after just brief chit chat how much we would make him pay to have sex with my "6 year old daughter"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I have been on myspace for about a year. There is brief nudity, and you can find sexual and even sick situations on there if you go looking and once in a while even if you are not looking. Bare that in mind and look at your daughter and ask yourself...do I wanna subject her to that???...My daughter is now 8 and she has
very little to do with online stuff other than disney.com and similar. You had not said how old she was but a ounce of prevention...................

Answer 5

You always hear stories about kids who get hurt by sites like this, but the majority of kids have a good time and never get hurt. It's dangerous, but then what isn't? How old is your daughter? She has to learn at some point to be responsible on the Internet. It's like crossing the street-- at a certain age, you have to let them cross on their own, but you have to still make sure they're safe. If you let her join, you should explain to her what is appropriate and what is inappropriate for someone online to say to her. Make sure she knows that if someone says something inappropriate to her, she should tell you. Tell her you won't take it away from her if this happens, cause that might be a reason for her not to tell you. Take an interest in what she does on the site, and don't spy on her but keep an eye on what she does. Also, look up for yourself the measures that MySpace has in place to protect children, and the steps they recommend you take to protect your daughter.

Answer 6

My Space is not safe at all for kids and girls exactly. Sick people might go on there and god knows what will happen next. Buys will be saying weird and nasty things and offend your daughter. Or any child on it. My space has a lot of sex offenders that your kids don't know about.

Answer 7

No!!!!!!! I had one to keep in contact w/ my friends, and it freaked me out! When you sign into it, it tells your other "friends" you're online. However, all myspace pages can be made private so no one outside of the network can go through. BUT, your "friends", the people who ask to be connected onto your page, can see your page. The problem w/ this site is mainly what you put on the site and who sees it. I believe if you let your daughter have a page, please make sure that she gives you her password, so you can check to see if she is putting too much info or if her "friends" are indeed her real friends or strangers on the net. Myspace is good in keeping contact w/ your friends like email, but for diary entries and the people reading it, it's not good at all.

Answer 8

Your daughter should be protected at all times why would you let her join? If you did I would think that you are a bad mother. Teach her good things and how old is this daughter of yours?

Answer 9

Myspace has become one of the most popular websites now these days. I've used it for a couple of months now and so far I haven't had any problems. It also depends on your daughter. The website allows you to choose different options on what you're looking for, for example: friends, serious relationships...just to mention a couple of the options your daughter has. In my opinion it really depends on your daughter's age, personality and how mature she is. Just warn her about not giving out personal information such as address and telephone # on her profile that can be viewed by many people. She can also set her profile to private that way only friends of her can see it.

Answer 10

Do not let her join. It is totally unsafe for kids...but for that matter so is most of the 'net. MySapce is full of molesters and sickos.....trust me I know............

So if she is under 18, say forget it. You can spin some really bad stories about things there.....and yours will not be a bad as the real thing.