Well? Issue 10: Spring/Summer 2007

30 Well? Online Social Networks
Public Display of
Connection
YouTube, Bebo, MSN … A new language? Youth jargon?
Teen gobbledegook? Whatever…
These are in fact interactive websites and the latest craze in teen social networking.
But what’s the appeal? Well? asked Jodi McCoy, 14, from Maybole in Ayrshire to
explain.
MSN, YouTube and Bebo are very popular
websites which have chat rooms. They are
mostly famous with young people today
because young people can talk about
issues with someone they don’t know and
let out a lot of feelings to one another.
Young people are likely to end up trusting
this person because they listen to them.
BUT, (emphasis on that but) the person
they are talking to might not really be
listening and the young person might get
hurt and realise this person does not really
care about them, so they then look for
someone new to chat to. You don’t always
know if the other person is young, or just
pretending to be young, so everyone is
careful not to tell anyone they don’t know
anything about themselves.
The other hurtful situation is when a person
might ignore your messages or even block
them because they don’t want to speak to
you anymore, but don’t let this upset you.
Young people these days DO know the
safety issues around Internet bullies and
stalkers because they read things about
this at school and from other groups or
websites (like youngscot.org.uk).
They can talk away like they do at school
without their parents interfering with them.
You wouldn’t exactly tell your
mother/father/carer who you have a crush
on at school, or if you snogged five people
at the disco you went to last night.
Teenagers like being alone with their friends
without adults lurking over them.
MSN is a website where young people like
me can confidentially talk to their peers.
However, a girl I know made up an MSN
that didn’t show her name and she added
her crush. They talked away like they knew
each other forever, but at school he called
her names. That was depressing for her
because she really liked this guy.
Parents can take some control by trying it
out themselves and seeing what they’re
missing. They shouldn’t be as worried as
they are. And there are age restrictions on
violent or sexual videos so your child can’t
watch these. Try and get into a young
person’s frame of mind and ask yourself,
“Why does my son/daughter like this?” It’ll
help you bond more with them and maybe
they won’t hate you as much (typical for
teenagers to hate their parents, though it
passes, although I don’t hate mine).
So I hope this helps adults understand a bit
more about the websites young people go
into and why they like them so much.
Jodi McCoy writes for the South
Ayrshire Young Scot Hack Pack team.
www.youtube.com
www.bebo.com
www.msn.com