BEWARE:Predators

        Numerous stories haunt the news about predators on social networking sites. Though they are prevalent on every website, thousands of "predator incidents" have occurred on the social networking site MySpace. Though MySpace requires it's users to be at least 14 years old, many younger children are finding their way onto the site as well. I read a 2006 CBS news article about the website and it discussed the numerous predators that have been arrested due to their harassment to young children on MySpace. Not to stereotype, but many of these stories involve middle-aged men who harass young girls. In 2005 alone, The Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported 2, 600 incidents of adults enticing children via the Internet. This statistic simply occurred in 2005, I can only imagine the number that 2007 reported with the rising popularity  in other social networking websites such as Facebook. 

       Though MySpace warns their users not to post any identifiable information or explicit pictures, not all users comply. Many teenagers post their phone numbers, AOL screen names, and other personal information. As the CBS news report agrees, many users post this information assuming only their friends will use it without thinking about the forty-some year old men who often stalk young girls pages just hoping to find this kind of personal information. One story talked about in the news report discusses a young girl who was active on MySpace until the day of her disappearance. Her parents blame the social networking site. Another story is that of a fourteen-year-old New Jersey girl who was found dead. Before her death she had told her friends she met a man on MySpace in his twenties. Lastly, a story in Texas about a 38 year old man talking to a 14 year old girl and asking her to meet up for sex. Police took over the fourteen year old's identity and eventually took the man into custody.

       These are just a few of the thousands of police stories linked to social networking sites such as MySpace. Though parents may be protective over their children, it can still happen to anyone. It is important to either ban or at least monitor all children's usage of social networking sites, and the Internet alone. Also, most of the social networking sites have privacy settings for a reason, people, children in particular, need to learn to use them.

Video Games: Friend or Foe?

    Let me start off by saying that Play Stations, Game Cubes, Nintendos, and heck even Pac Man's are not my friends. Wii I can do on a good day, but I have been known to get my butt kicked on most games by my four and six-year-old neighbors that I babysit. Despite my lack of talent as a "gamer," many people, especially children, have grown to be consumed by video games. In fact, a study done for a CBS evening news story showed that 97% of the 1, 102 teenagers polled play video games. This proves that I most definitely fall into the "gaming" minority.

    Many people question the use of video games for children. Just like people questioned the use of toy guns for young children, many question video games as well. With some games promoting violence, where players have to shoot people or run from the cops, parents wonder if video games are leading their kids by example. Teaching a five year old how to shoot down a monster or person on a video game isn't exactly appropriate, many believe. Many also so how children become so consumed with video games that their social skills therefore lack because they are holed up with a computer or gaming system. This CBS story, however, says that not all video games are bad video games. The study shows the 65% of the 97% of teenagers that play video games, play with a friend. This shows that not all gamers are those alone in their room with their only social interaction occurring between them and their animated video game player. We could call it face-to-screen conversation. However, this study shows that most children do in fact play with a friend. CBS also says that the three main video game areas played are racing, puzzles, or sports. All of which do not include violence. Connie Yowell of the Mac Arthur Foundation supported the CBS study also trying to prove that video games are helpful to children."Kids are talking with each other, helping each other, sharing knowledge," Yowell said. "It's really peer-based learning going on."

   What do I make of this? Not that my opinion is all that important but personally I think that video games take a lot away from a children's quality of life. Those two neighbors I babysit have three different gaming systems and love spending all day and all night playing if they could. They also have a swimming pool, playground set, bicycles, and a million toys. It saddens me when they get out of their pool to go play a video game on a hot summer day, because that's the only thing that thrills them anymore. I do understand that games such as Wii fit promote excercise and puzzle games, or alphabet or math games are educational, but moderation must be kept in mind. Whatever happened to riding bikes all day and playing capture the flag at nightfall? Those were the good days.

Window to Your Soul

In an article in the Washington Post Jose Antonio Vargas talks to 29-year-old Jason Berkowitz about the relationship between he and his iPod. "It becomes an extension of you," he says. "It's like a window to your soul."  Millions of people in society today use their iPods on a daily basis. The little hand-held machines hold thousands of songs, books, photos, videos, and mini newscasts called pod-casts. Berkowitz explains the love affair between he and his iPod and how the various songs on it can take you back to previous life experiences. He exclaims how songs such as "Superfreak" take him back to  his youth, screaming it at a parties, or "When Will I Be Loved" helps him recall the first dance at his senior prom. Vargas writes, "To the iPodders around the world, the irresistible, indispensable, irreplaceable iPod is a personal memory bank."

It is interesting what Berkowitz says about a person's iPod being the "window to your soul." This is very true in that one can learn a lot about someone by simply rummaging through their iPod. Their taste of music, interest in videos, and photos, can display their personality and take anyone back to the memories of the owners iPod. The article talks about how people use their iPod all day long. From their morning workout, to their walk in the city to work, even to grocery shopping where their favorite tunes drown out the sounds of children yelling for their parents to buy their favorite kind of candy, people's iPod's are in use.

The article also talks about a Kate Danser and how she is using her iPod during her morning workout session. She said how the sounds of a Jack Johnson song during her leg extension reps reminds her of her old college friend Casey because he first introduced her to the artist. This is true because when a song plays, people often think about when they first heard it, what they were doing when they did hear it, and who first introduced them to it. 

Though it is just a small machine, the iPod is near and dear to many and a lot of people would feel lost without them.