New Trend in Social Media: Misery for Profit
The social media world is one oft blinded with self-fulfilling optimism, such as the ridiculous belief that you could put together a network that encourages strangers to ask anonymous questions and not expect it to be abused.
Sites like Formspring.me need  a healthy dose of reality concerning human nature, and the creators should ask themselves whether providing a tool for teens to make each other miserable is worth whatever profits they hope to reap.
For those who don’t know, Formspring.me is a social networking site that invites users to post profiles and invites anonymous questions from random strangers. The site was recently linked to the suicide of Alexis Pilkington, and after a brief survey of a few profiles it was not hard to see how the site would be damaging to anyone, especially teens. Here is part of one girl’s comment on Cyberbullying.us about her experience on Formspring:
i am a 13 year old female and it really does s*ck. i made an account to answer qustions but it turned out i was getting bulliedÂ
its not fun i thought of suicide but i also have an idea of who it was bulllying me … i abosoultly hate it ive gotten nothing but hate mail or sexual stuff such as “tour so ugly how can you get peopleâ€? or “your just a ******â€? or “fat a**â€? when im not well like yea im not the most beautifal person or the skinniest. people can be harsh now of days. they dishh out what they personaly cant take then expect there friends to back them up when they get to far deep. some days i dont want to live because how people treat me at school im friends with everyone but then there are more out in the world and some hate me some r vocal about it. i havee seen many girls or boys my age drink there feelings away because its the only way to get rid of how people are most cant take it like thoes girls who commited suicide. im alive because i fear death other wise i wouldnt be here anymore. i feel worthless. empty. alone. unloved. hated. fear. pain. all because of the disrepect people have. some may say its harsh critizam but it really isnt.
Parents, where is the reward that is worth this risk? Are we really obliged to recognize the misguided, delusional optimism that makes the structure of this site a good idea in theory? When are we as a society going to recognize that social networking for teens is simply bad in practice?
Filed under: Internet Safety News
Good article. Most teens are not able to manage emotions simply because many are raised without the proper parental love and care needed to help in emotional times of need.
Great article and another great tool for us to remember as parents and minsitry leaders.
[edited for content]
I think this whole cyberbullying scare is overblown. It’s nothing but words – they can be simply ignored. The victims are the ones who choose to be so easily insulted, when all they need to do is apply the traditional bullying solution: Ignore it. It’s not fun if the victim doesn’t cooperate and respond to the insults with an outpouring of angst.
I can’t remember what I wrote to be edited, but if I did write that at 1:13am then I’m sure it’s nothing good :>
It was just a little insensitive to be written about a 13-y-o girl. We have to remember that kids are not adults and can not be expected to deal with problems as adults would.
I have compassion for those who suffer abuse like this, but I also think that a teenager lacking the strength of character to simply delete their account, shrug it off, and move on, has a deeper problem. Networks like formspring simply serve as a catalyst for issues that would still be troubling without them.
That’s no justification, of course. “Such things must come, but woe to him through whom they come.” I think you’re probably right that the world would be better off without such a network. But the underlying problems are more important. Let’s not go chasing shadows, even when the shadows are dark. I’d like to see formspring disappear from the face of the earth, but I’d rather see parents, siblings, teachers and church members reaching out in love to the vulnerable teens in their lives.
I also think the last line in this article is unjustified. I live abroad, and use facebook to keep in touch with my teenage siblings in the US. Is that “bad in practice?” It’s ridiculous to make a blanket statement about what is bad “in practice.” If something is always bad in practice, then it is just bad. If you need to include the words “in practice” at all, then you can’t say that they always apply. Social networking for teens is neither new nor generally harmful. There have always been dangers and there have always been benefits. The emergence of the Internet provides a new medium, but not a new moral dilemma. Plenty of excellent things are done through online social networking, of which this very site, on which we discuss things with each other is an example. The proper reaction is vigilance, not outright rejection.