The Internet can be a blessing and a curse, but when it comes to protecting our children, it’s a vast unknown. How do we keep our children away from porn and hate sites? How do we know that our children aren’t using the Internet to communicate with the “wrong” people? How do we keep our children safe on the Internet, when they spend hours online each day conducting research for school, looking for entertainment and socializing?
The most extensive study of study of U.S. teens and their use of digital media was released last week, reporting that American youth is developing important social and technical skills online. The study also suggests that the Internet and social networking sites give marginalized teens, the so-called “freaks and geeks,” a space to meet others like them and develop a support network.
But like everything else online and off, social networking sites also have a dark side that more often than not involves adults, youths and inappropriate behavior. Of course, the first scenario to come to mind is an adult luring a teenager into a sexual relationship, but there is a newer form of Internet crime that is equally as brutal and taking place in the ever-evolving realm of social media. Online bullying is what caused 13-year-old Megan Meier to hang herself in her bedroom closet on October 17, 2006 in Dardenne Prairie, Mo.
Megan’s suicide was prompted by a slew of personal attacks posted on her MySpace page by “friends” and her online “boyfriend” Josh Evans. The epithets were just enough to push the teen on depression medication over the edge. It wasn’t until six weeks after Megan’s death that her parents learned that Josh Evans didn’t exist, that he was the fabrication of Lori Drew, the mother of one of Megan’s ex-friends.
Drew used this fake identity to woo Megan and later turn on her, by publicly posting Megan’s messages to Josh, insulting Megan and urging other teens to participate in the emotional roast. Drew’s motives were simple; she was avenging her daughter and trying to discover whether Megan was spreading gossip.
Missouri authorities launched an investigation but concluded that there was no statute under which to charge Drew. However, U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O’Brien indicted Drew in Los Angeles on the theory that because MySpace is based in Beverly Hills, under his jurisdiction. Drew is currently being tried for providing false information to set up the MySpace account, and using it to “inflict emotional distress.” She faces up to 20 years in prison.
The Internet offers new methods by which to inflict abuse and cruelty, and parents may be at a loss when it comes time to protect their children from this new online threat. Megan Meier’s mother only allowed her daughter to use MySpace under parental supervision and controlled her MySpace password, but that wasn’t enough to save Megan’s life; a sobering fact that makes us all wonder what else we can possibly do to keep our children from the monsters that hide in the anonymity of cyber-space.
-Justine Bayod Espoz