I was wondering if anyone is familiar with the webite called Formspring. My daughter has several kids at school who have accounts there and she called me over to read the questions/comments. I was stunned at the hateful, sexual and abusive comments on their account. The problem I have with it, is an anonymous person can ask a question or hurl an insult. These kids are 12 and up. I scratch my head wondering why a young person would put up with this. The only answer I could come up with is:
1. they keep the account for the occasional comment like "you're hot/pretty" because they crave this kind of attention due to low self esteem.
2. they like the drama and being able to fire back.
Or they're immune to this kind of stuff on the internet.
There's also a fairly new website for children called Moshi Monsters. It's a bit similar to Webkinz except you can have a live conversation. I let my youngest join but became aware that adults actually join this too. One night a supposed kid asked my daughter if "she knows what sex is"? I told her to delete any comments and the person. Two friends of hers at school have accounts and they were naive enough to post their phone number on their message wall.
I wonder why parents aren't teaching their kids to be more safe when they're on the internet?