Health Risks with MySpace

The Internet plays a major role in the lives of adolescents, and approximately half of them use online social networking Web sites such as MySpace.

“One of the concerns about teenagers using social networking Web sites is the worry about them attracting unwanted attention,” said Dr. Megan Moreno, assistant professor of pediatric and adolescent medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Moreno was lead author of a pair of studies on teens and their display of health risk behaviors in a past issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Her research team found that more than half of teens who use social networking Web sites display health risk behaviors in their profiles, such as making references to sexual behaviors and substance abuse.

“Media is a very powerful influence on teens, and teens learn what normal attitudes and behaviors are from watching television,” said Moreno.

“So when you combine those and say ‘here is a form of media created and displayed by other teens,’ now you have what’s often called a ‘super peer.’”

Latraveon Burton, a 15-year-old from Hull, Ga., understands this phenomenon.

“Some people describe themselves totally different than what they are,” Burton said.

Although Burton does not have a little sister, he said if he did, he would carefully monitor her activity on MySpace.

“It depends on who she was talking to,” he said. “I wouldn’t want her to talk to older boys. I wouldn’t want her to pick up any ideas of what she sees on other people’s pages.”

He whispered the word “sex” as one of his concerns, and drugs as another.

Latraveon has been using MySpace since the summer when he set up his account with his mother.

His mother, Shantika Burton, 35, a departmental secretary for Athens Regional Pediatrics, supervises her son carefully.

“I get him to pull it up and check it,” she said, “and make sure he’s using the appropriate stuff on it.”

Latraveon’s mother does not like him using profanity, and you won’t find references to sex or drugs on his profile.

“She knows who my friends are and what they are saying,” said Latraveon. “She makes sure they aren’t saying anything bad.”

But not all parents monitor their teenager’s computer usage closely.

“Of all the things that parents monitor, in terms of television, and where their kids are, Internet behavior is one of the lowest,” said Moreno. “Parents really are not doing supervision in terms of Internet use.”

In Madison County, Ga., where Hull is located, Web sites such as MySpace cannot be accessed from school grounds.

“Social networking Web sites are blocked,” said Martha Vaughn, media specialist at the Freshman Academy, where the ninth graders attend separately from grades 10-12. 

“They’ve been blocked for as long as I can remember,” said Vaughn, who has been working in the Madison County school system for close to 15 years.

MySpace can be accessed from the Madison County Library in Danielsville.

Other than the filters on the computers themselves, there is no supervision of what teenage patrons do on the computer, said Jennifer Ivey, youth and outreach specialist at the library.

“If a parent is letting them come into the library unsupervised, and they are aware that they have access to the computers,” Ivey said, “it’s out of our hands.”

Though there are some health risks to using social networking sites like MySpace, the sites themselves are not inherently dangerous, Moreno said.

 “It’s not that MySpace is bad and we need to shut it down,” she said. “These sites, they can’t be good or bad. The way that you use them determines what kind of outcome you are going to get.”

Latraveon said he uses MySpace mostly to talk to his friends and listen to music.

Moreno suggests that parents look at MySpace as a tool. “Instead of just saying this is all bad,” she said, “say ‘how can I use this tool?’”

Much like how Latraveon and his mother pull up his MySpace profile together, Moreno suggests parents share the MySpace experience with their teenager. 

“After dinner some night, sit down in front of their profile and say ‘hey show me what you like, show me what your interests are,’ and spend

some time saying ‘hey, I didn’t know you liked that movie. I didn’t know your friends are doing this.’” Moreno said.

“That way if you do see something that is dangerous, you’ve got a little more clout to talk to them about it, because you’re showing them that you’re interested in them as a person not just, ‘what can I snoop on your profile to get you in trouble?’”

“Treat MySpace like everything else in your teen’s life,” Moreno said. “And that’s to be involved, be supportive and provide guidance.”