HAHIRA— My room. My things. My friends. My Space. Today it seems that all throughout America teens are making a plea for privacy, declaring a minor degree of independence while trying so very hard to personalize their lives.

Of course the hope of achieving an individual identity, at least outside of ones parents or family, has fueled the stages between adolescence and adulthood for decades. Still in this developing age of technology and easy accessibility, some worry that various Internet sites could be endangering youth.

Over the past few months several reports have drawn national attention to a popular Web site known as MySpace.com. According to information stated in Wikipedia, MySpace is a social networking Web site which uses an interactive network of photos, blogs, user profiles, groups, and an internal e-mail system. As of March this year, MySpace was rated as the fifth most popular English-language Web site in the world, having nearly 70 million registered accounts.

Although MySpace is used by adults of many ages, the site is dominated by teens from across the nation who take part in the free opportunity to exhibit an expression of themselves through personalized web pages.

In spite of the site’s mass popularity, several reports claim that many of the pages created by teen users often display personal scheduling information as well as phone numbers and residential locations that could be easily retrieved by child predators. In other reports, parents have criticized the content of some personal photos displayed on web pages, sometimes showing teens in a sexually suggestive manner, as well as photos showing underage teens participating in adult social activities such as drinking and smoking.

Such issues have ignited the concern of several parents and school administrators in this community as area youth have likewise began to flock to the teen oriented Web site.

Hahira Middle School Assistant Principal Derald Jones has received phone calls and tips from several parents discussing the content of some MySpace pages created by students attending the school. In reviewing the site, Jones found only a percentage of the content displayed to be inappropriate or suggestive in nature, and said that he does not wish to create any widespread distress among parents over the site. He hopes rather to make parents aware of issues that may be of possible concern, as well as some preventative and active steps toward establishing Internet safety at home.

“Our kids don’t have access to these sites in school, but I am concerned about the overall safety of our kids. We have a number of students who go home to empty houses, with some 30- minutes or several hours left to freely surf the Internet,” Jones said.

“My concerns are over the display of photos and information that may give child predators insight into a student’s whereabouts or release information about students who may be under protective custody. There is the possibility of kids using page blogs to post derogatory comments about others, or plan fights and things of that nature. I also think a few parents may be surprised to see the suggestive clothing and posture in some of the photos.”

Although the rules and terms issued by site officials require that all users be 14 and older, a user account can easily be created by someone younger by entering a false year of birth. In efforts to protect the youngest of its users, MySpace sets private accounts for all teens listed as 14 years of age which cannot be viewed by others users unless approved by the account holder.

“The site keeps the profile pages of 14-year-olds private, but their pages can be viewed by people whom they’ve accepted as friends. The problem is that teens want to get as many friends as possible on the site, the higher your friend number, the cooler you are, so they often just accept anyone making a request, sometimes allowing people who are much older access to their pages, friend lists and blog,” said seventh grade English/Literature teacher Monica Dyess.

Jones and Dyess suggest that parents maintain communication with their children concerning their Internet usage and make requests to view any web pages their child has created ensure page appropriateness. Dyess advises parents to look over created web pages to make sure that no personal information which could be used at any time to locate their child is listed, no such personal information is disclosed in the blog comments section of their child’s page or on the page of someone listed as a friend of the child, and suggests that parents make a dummy page and become listed as a friend of their child in order to have unrestricted viewing access to his or her page.

As the world continues toward age of computer and Internet proficiency, educators encourage parents to become familiar with this world of technology that younger generations were birthed into.

“You cannot hide from it because computers are every where. Technology is not a horrible thing, but it does create a new challenge for parents to monitor their kids usage,” Jones said.

“Parents should be aware that there really are some good things on MySpace. Teens can keep in touch with distant and local friends for free, they can join groups of other teens who are interested in the same sports, activities, and show as they are. MySpace is also positive in that it exposes teens to positive public service announcements specifically directed toward youth issues, and we’re seeing that the site is actually a viable tool for police to use in identifying child predators and uncovering and preventing harmful plots of some teens,” Dyess said.

During the past weeks, administrators and teachers of Hahira Middle have made efforts to speak with students about Internet dangers and safety, and may consider sharing the information with parents as well as technical options for creating parental blocks on computer systems.