Too much ado about MySpace

I would be the last person to deny that problems exist with social networking websites such as MySpace and Xanga. Undoubtedly, there are perverts who prowl cyberspace looking for easy marks. Some teens put far too much personal information on the Internet for anyone to see. Others use these sites for cyberbullying. Those uses have been highlighted time and again by the national and local media (who have especially been hyping the hysteria during sweeps month series), while the vast majority of teens have not been abusing or misusing these sites.
Unfortunately, all of this has been a bonanza for opportunistic politicians looking for a scare issue so they can charge in like white knights and slay the MySpace dragon.
Legislation has been proposed in Congress which would require schools and public libraries to eliminate access to social networking sites and other sites that use similar technology. That would not only include MySpace and Xanga, but sites such as blogger.com, which is home to The Turner Report, and three of my four Room 210 sites, Room 210 News, which features work from the South Middle School Journalism Club; Room 210 Discussion, which is designed to give students an opportunity to read and write about issues that affect them; and my most recent addition, Room 210 for Teachers, which addresses educational issues.
I am not too worried about students losing access to my Blogger sites at school. They are already blocked at many schools in this area, and it has nothing to do with me or my style of writing (except perhaps at my former place of employment in Diamond).
I am more worried about the shortsighted attitude of people who would close the door on a technology that is already enhancing education. We already know the bad things about teen blogs. The media have focused on them, and in many cases deservedly so. There are, however, good uses for social networking sites.
-These sites, when used correctly, can encourage student reading and writing, skills which they normally make no effort to sharpen unless they are required to do so for school assignments.
-Though we hear more about the students who post their plans to commit mayhem on these sites, we hear far less about young people who are able to connect with others their own age who have similar interests. Sure, there are perverts who take advantage of that, but that has already been lessened with more education and with increased awareness among parents and other adults about the dangers of the Internet.
I am reminded of the 1950s hysteria surrounding two horrible evils that were threatening our young people- rock and roll and comic books. When adults decried these activities and tried to get them banned, teens craved them that much more and both are thriving today.
Instead of banning social networking sites, let's let educators, not publicity-hungry politicians, but educators, find a way to take this marvelous technology and make it a tool for education. If you think MySpace is popular with teens now, just wait until adults tell them they can't have anything to do with it.
That tactic did not work in the 1950s; it is not going to work now.