Although it says "All images are reviewed. No nudity or offensive images," I've discovered that I couldn't let SaurKid surf their images section. I see all kinds of things in there, and I'm not talking a simple, tasteful nude occasionally. I see things that would make a gynecologist scream for a nurse to bring penicillin, stat. The nice thing is that you can report such pics, but does tinypic do anything about them? I don't know.
I started looking for SaurKid, who loves moving gifs, and he's got quite a collection now. But I think my retinas may be scarred forever.I also find it a sad statement of humanity's priorities. Most pictures are of desperate people, with their arm around someone, smiling gleefully at the camera as if to say "See? I'm not a loser. I've got friends! Lookit how cool I am!"
There are even more desperate people, who post sayings or comics about how destructive love is, or how lonely they are. They are screaming and pounding at your door, demanding "love me!" because no one else does.
There are also the sad rejects of society, who try to identify themselves by the idols that they have.
And of course the most desperate people of all are the ones that are trying to project a highly sexualized or b-a-a-a-d image, in the hopes that someone, anyone, will find them attractive - even if its on the net.
Which makes me wonder: how many parents read their kids' blogs or MySpace entries on a daily basis? They should.
P.S. I'm glad you got to come along on the trip to St. Augustine with me. I'll do another vacation series in a month or so - depending on where and when I can get out! Argh! It's Monday and I'm chained to the desk again!
23 comments:
I'm kind of on the kid's side on this one. If I had a blog when I was in high school, I would definitely not want my mother reading it. Of course, that's mostly because she wasn't discreet about things. She liked to toss my room like prisons do and demand full explanations for every thing, like when she found the little love notes a girl and I exchanged in class. All she succeeded in doing was ensuring I worked overtime to keep everything hidden from her.
Grant, I do understand your point. And it's usually the messed-up kids who have parents that don't care, don't read their blogs, and that's why the kids are reaching out like that. But it's so easy for people to prey on each other, why have your kid put out a message over the internet that he/she is desperate, or oversexed, or lonely, or looking for a new addiction? I think it's a dangerous new world.
I love that page :) Those pics are strange though :)
Ever see file-swap.com?
It is a fun way to upload a pic, then get a random one in return. Very fun.
Rude images are good for you...
I hoping by the time my child is born and can type, blogging will be so old news that she wouldn't possibly consider doing it.
My favorite internet dating phrase: "The odds are good but the goods are odd."
I definitely think you need to keep an eye on your child's blog...good for you!
Just as you would the television!
"Desperado...."
I know my daughters blog but I have not been able to find them. On the other hand, they have yet to find mine so I guess it is fair *S*.
I have to trust their innate good sense especially since they are both young adults now. I am certain I would not feel that way if they were 14 though.
Well, being a parent, who worries, if my children had a blog, I would want to read it. That being said, I am sure they would find it offensive, and tell me I am violating their privacy. (this is what happens with too much legal talk going on in the house!)
Good points Suar. The one thing that binds all of us humans together is that we desperately need to be loved. Or at least noticed. There is nothing worse than indifference. Love me or hate me, but please notice me - that is what people are saying these days and it is no longer just the High School and college aged kids - it's everyone.
I can definitely see both sides of the coin here. On the one hand you want to know what your kids are doing because you want to keep them away from harm. On the other hand I'm sure they would think you were somehow violating them by prying. Like reading your daughter's diary without her knowing. I'm sure they'd be embarrassed to know you are reading it. It's like a line from the movie Footloose, where Rev. Moore says something like "how can we teach our children to be trustworthy if we do not trust them ourselves". Well, that's not exactly the line but I'm sure you know what I mean...
Yeah, I don't really understand the whole Internet porn thing.
But really... couldn't a kid have a blog without a parent even knowing about it?
If I'd had the internet and freedon to meet people online as a kid I would have been in all kinds of trouble. I never would have had the sense to know who not to trust.
Because I know that about myself as a teenager, I could never trust my kids (if I had any) to be unmonitered online... I also know if this had been an issue in the 80's it would have caused huge fights with my parents... not something I'm looking forward to if I have kids.
Saur,
Excellent post.
I told my children that I strongly suggest that they not do anything that I would find disrespectful. This worked.
Oy, I'm a loser because I'm always posting about my sucky love life. But thats me trying to be funny, its part of the shtick. I see lots of porn while researching (yeah, thats what I'm doing), and I'm always trying to decide how to push the envelope without crossing the line. No way would I let my kids have a computer in their rooms, or without me keeping a close eye.
Parent's should be looking on their child's blog that is available to the entire internet, aka. NOT A SECRET. I say if I'm responsible for them, aside from obvious legalities, I'm going to check on a public page.
PS. Saur you are indeed a fab tour guide. I had a great trip thank you. :o)
Kids are sneaky. And they think adults are dumb.
So what kids will do if a parent wants to read their blog is simply have more than one blog.
When / IF I ever decide to reproduce, my kids will have to be extra super double sneaky. Not only did I learn all the old tricks, I made up a few along the way.
Everyone: No doubt, kids can have blogs w/o the parents knowing. But a good parent is a sneaky parent. And you watch the kid for signs of furtiveness, etc. A clever parent catches sneakiness. Now yeah, I know, I said CLEVER. That does eliminate most people as well as most parents. But checking your kids memory cache, sneaking a peek at emails, or even installing spyware go a long way to solving that.
Lazy Iguana, ditto to what you said!
Emma, I'm glad you enjoyed the trip! And you're right, it's public, which is scary.
Miss C, adults joking about it is different than kids. And I read your blog regularly - you never position it like a lonely heart's call, anyway! Your blog never smacks of desperation. ;o)
Mr. Gator, ahh, to have such authority. You're amazing!
Jenn, me too! My parents worried that I was too friendly as it was! I can't imagine the internet being introduced into the mix!
AP3, I don't get it either, because once you've seen one... you know? And some of the gross stuff is incredibly barf-inducing.
Mr. Fab, you have no idea. One reason I'm up so early every morn - panic attacks.
Green, very true. But we have to deal with human nature, which isn't trustworthy. So, it sounds good, but it leaves people out of the equation. Footloose was a great movie, BTW!
Eddo, humanity's desperate cry, huh? We always had that pathology, but it becomes more evident as we have ways to medicate it; the internet, anti-depressants, and less societal restrictions. I think it's one reason that religion was always used to "self medicate", so it was more difficult to sort out the "wheat from the chaff" in the churches - there were (and are) people there from mixed motives.
Barbara, ahhh, but do kids have the right to privacy?
Mallory, you know, it's hard to know when to let go of a child and hope you've placed it on the right path. But I agree, by the time a child is in their late teens (17+, say) it's too late to do much of anything, anyway.
Jamie Dawn, ;o)
Lee Ann, you're right; it's an entertainment medium like TV. In some ways it's healthier, in some ways there's more of a chance of abuse.
Ed, good phrase!
Daniel, I know you have a special fondness for the stuff, but then you're an adult. ;o)
Alex, I'd never heard of it! Sounds like you could get quite an eyeful, though!
My 11 yr. old daughter has a website that my husband publishes for her. I read it and give her feedback so she knows I am looking. She's having fun with the creativity end of it and she and her friends look at it in school. (I've posted about it, but I don't want to link to it.)
She has been bugging us to let her have an email account and we are planning to set her up with one where we get copies of the messages also. Of course she will understand this, and if she doesn't like it, no email. We have the capability to check out what sites she's going to on the web and we have several types blocked. Good thing Cranky is an IT guru...
Kids should have a right to privacy from everyone EXCEPT their parents (or whoever is responsible for raising them). Get over it, kid, thats the way it is!
Reverberate, you are not "just" the stepmom. Good for you guys! I'm a "stepmom", since my boyfriend and I've been together 6 years and he has a (now) 11 year old daughter. But I'm proud to say that I've made such an impact in her life that she has steered away completely from the direction she was going in.
However, in my stepdaughter's case neither of her parents really care or have much common sense (I'm not slamming my boyfriend, it's just the truth) so they gave me free reign.
When she was in first grade, her mother used to let her wear makeup to school. I was able to convince the child to stop putting on makeup like Tammy Faye Baker. She also had terrible grammar and her mother (the primary caregiver) never took time for her. In fact, at dinnertime she'd fix a plate for the child and send her to her room to watch TV by herself. It was very weird. When I got everyone to agree to test her for gifted (they all thought she was average at best) she came out at genius level and I got her into gifted classes. Today she is an educated, sweet, thoughtful girl who takes excellent care of herself and she has more common sense than most adults. But most of it is HER doing, I need to add. I just opened the doors.
So, the moral is: don't sell yourself short.
Miss C, I agree! ;o)
NotSoCranky, you guys seem to be doing a GREAT job with her, from the post I just read on your site. She's thriving and of course it's the parents who make that possible.
I must admit I am very wary about my Chicky and the internet. I don't really want her to do a blog at this stage, but if she really wants to, she can ... under supervision. I purposefully don't post closeup pictures of her for the same reason ... too many weirdo's out there. I would love to share more photos with all my blog friends, but tend to stick to scenery type ones.
I really enjoyed your holiday photos. Thanks for sharing.
Take care, Meow
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