PressEthic

When I was in high school, me and my friends were constantly annoyed by the million and one rules from parents, teachers and all adults in between. But alas, I haven’t been in high school for ten years. Now blue hair and piercings are acceptable (just no tattoos until you graduate was the recent rule in my cousin’s house), but blogging is not.

There have been stories over the past week about warnings or outright bans of blogging for teens in New Jersey, Delaware and New York. The biggest reason is the fear that sex offenders are going to use sites like MySpace.com to find their next victim. Parents have obviously been scared by all of the stories about kidnappings here and abroad, which begs the question of whether there are actually more incidents or more coverage.

Certainly there are crazies out there who would use a site where young people congregate. With the free flow of personal information comes a greater responsibility for parents and school officers to watch out for their kids; teach them to be cautious. But tighter restrictions on the rights of people under 18 just isn’t fair.

I wouldn’t blog if this weren’t a school assignment. However, I’ve gotten good information from blogs. It’s not going anywhere and resistance is futile.

Outside of that, as a journalism student, I cringe at the idea of “censorship for your own good”. If you don’t want your kids to put their address on the internet, tell them that. They’re not always going to listen, but don’t curb their ability to go online and see what’s going on in the world because you’re afraid of the bogeyman. More likely than not, if you promise to leave them alone, that’s the only motivation they’ll need to follow your instructions.

The threat is very real, but there are threat to us every day. Blogging has become a legitimate means for people to talk, exchange ideas and learn. A blanket prohibition for teenagers is just wrong.