Sandra Weber thinks that ‘public’ is young people’s new ‘private.’
Filed at 9:09 am on December 12, 2006 in Identity • 3 comments
Young people often realize that their blogs and homepages are public and accessible. This doesn’t bother them because they trust that only their peers are interested enough to view them. Adults are supposed to know where they are not welcome and act accordingly.
Adults don’t ‘get’ young people’s new and tacit rules of Netiquette.
Young people trust adults to to be smart enough to realize that it is plain rude to go snooping on children’s websites without their permission. As public as their postings may be, it is ‘bad form’ and an invasion of privacy to visit a personal site that you know was not intended for your eyes.
Many public sites and blogs are the ‘new private’—intended, in most cases, for a select audience of peers only. It is not so much that children and youth have something to hide…it’s more that, like adults, they use different forms of expression (social codes) for different audiences and occasions.
It’s also a matter of being respected-they feel they are entitled to some privacy-especially privacy from adults they know. Indeed, research suggests that from an early age, children need private spaces for unsupervised play. Just as adults should not read a diary left lying around unlocked or open some one else’s mail or eavsedrop on telephone conversations, they should not snoop uninvited on cyberpostings of children they know.
How will young people learn to be trustworthy if no one will trust them?
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Comments (3)
1: Dan Young at 3:52 am on Wednesday, December 13, 2006
‘Public’ is still the old ‘public’ and young people had better have a grasp on that. Unless they’re controlling the sites they post to for the purposes of constructing robots.txt files, search engines will record their comments.
Posting on a publicly accessible web site isn’t like a misplaced diary, its like publishing a book. Its an explicit offer of information. Your web browser asks their web server “May I read this?” and barring access controls, the web server “Sure, here you go”. If you _asked_ a young person “May I read your diary?” they would just say no.
Implying that there is privacy to be found on blogs, etc. is just misleading kids about the nature of the internet.
2: Steve Van Dyk at 2:33 pm on Wednesday, December 13, 2006
I just looked up the definition of parent at dictionary.com. Did you know that the 4th definition states that a parent is a protector or guardian? Did you know that the act of parenting involves both love AND discipline?
I am 26 years old, married without children (yet) and was raised in the typical two parent-middle class household. Looking back at my years at home, and ahead to my years as a parent I think that two of the most important things a parent can do are to model appropriate behavior, and to communicate with their children. I’d like to also add that caring (guarding and protecting) a child is also high on that list.
Reading a diary left open on the kitchen table, or a diary left open on the computer screen has to be an absolute right of the parent. Students need to be taught that what they write on paper, and especially online can affect their future. What better person than a parent to accidentally come across a child’s MySpace account? Who better than to sit down with the child and TALK about what is appropriate and what is not. Trust is something that is earned. Open dialog between parent and child is a fantastic way to earn the mutual respect and trust that you speak of. I also think it is much more responsible than allowing your child free reign over what they do on the Internet.
I’m sure there are others who can say this much better than I can, and perhaps they will. I just think it is completely irresponsible for parents to ignore what their children are doing because it might anger them or invade their “private” public space. When did we forget who the parents are?
3: Jennifer at 2:15 pm on Friday, December 15, 2006
It is amazing me that you use the argument “How will young people learn to be trustworthy if no one will trust them?”
Trust is a two way street—it both needs to be given and needs to be earned.
If my child is open and honest with me of their going-ons on the internet, (and if life in general), I will have no other thought than to trust them. But if my child, (or students), hide what they are doing, change the computer screen as I walk by, or are unwilling to share their myspace account—that does not enlist trust…...on either side.
Find another argument—the one you tried doesn’t work.
Robust discussion/debate is encouraged. Comments are reviewed before posting to ensure they are on topic and do not promote commercial products or services.
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