[mort56]

ah...my alma mater! In my day they confiscated everything at BF. Then again in my day we didn’t really have anything to confiscate except cigarettes.

[vaudine]

Remember the little autograph books students used to keep in middle school and HS? Or maybe you aren't old enough to know. Little books about 3 X 5 inches and half an inch thick were passed around for friends and acquaintances to write something and sign. Sometimes there was an ugly comment.

Cyber bullying is these ugly comments on steroids and anonymous. Most of the time we knew who wrote the uglies because they signed. Only occasionally were they anonymous.

Obviously middle schoolers of today with all the violence and sex they are exposed to are not mature enough to have these things unless strictly supervised as to time of usage and content.

No way they should be in school, although you have to wonder if they learn much even when they pay attention--"Barack Hussein Obama-Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!"

vaudine

[donna]

Social Networking = Gossip

Proverbs 11:13
A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.

Proverbs 16:28
A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.

Proverbs 18:8
The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts.

Proverbs 20:19
A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much.

Proverbs 26:20
Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.

[DJ MacWoW]

I don’t think this is being a busybody. He’s urging parents to watch their children more closely and tell them to pay attention to school and not Facebook and My Space. He’s right.

[wtc911]

Busy body? I disagree. He’s just letting parents know what their tykes are up to and how they’re spending their valuable time. I give him credit.

[KosmicKitty]

I teach computer crimes classes at a small university.

For background for one of my lectures, I went to a teen chatroom pretending to be a 14yo girl who just got her first computer.

I expect vulgarity. I did not expect to be asked by every male in the room if I had a webcam!! That’s the big thing right now, sending pictures of your private parts to strangers.

Watch out for your kids. I won’t let mine have a cellphone, or a social networking page. Too many crazies out there. I know, I’ve seen it.

How about a guy sending directions & pictures to someone he believes is an 11 year old girl about how to perform auto-erotic asphyxiation wanting her to perform the act in front of her webcam????

[Katya]

"He said the sites have become a tool for children to do psychological harm to each other, often anonymously – a trend known as "cyber-bullying."

How would someone "anonymously" become your friend on a networking site? Perhaps what he should be telling parents is to educate their kids as to the rules they expect to be followed after creating their own personal site. (1)Don't add people you don't know, if someone is harassing you via facebook for example...report them to facebook and/or delete them as your friend. (2) Don't post anything on your page, or someone elses that you would find embarassing to yourself, or your family at any point in your life.... One rule we've always had in our house, is if you're under 18, your facebook/myspace must be open to anyone in the household...ie. the password is saved on the computer, and any parent can access their account. The sites themselves offer various levels of protection, it's time the parents educate themselves on the in's and out's. Online networking is only going to grow.

[Coleus]

kudos to the principal, parents are pretty careless these days. their children aren't having a life because all this social-networking is consuming all their time...In addition, the principal has every right to ban cell phones, beepers and the use of the internet with their phones while on school time and school property; all they do is take away from learning not help it...

[elisabeth]

Kudos to this principal! It’s about time adults stood up against this kind of stuff. Cell phones, texting, facebook, and other social networking media are preventing children from learning how to interact in a civil manner with each other. Kids are much bolder and meaner when they do not have to say things to someone else’s face. It is much easier for groups to gang up on others when it is online. This is totally unhealthy for children. Kids are not able to brush things off like an adult could. They take it very personally and it can be damaging. I think it is leaps and bounds beyond old school bullying and teasing that we experienced when we were kids.

Adults are not as likely to “bully” each other online and even if they do, they have the emotional fortitude to get over it (in most cases, at least!).

I cannot believe that schools even allow cell phones on school property. What a distraction from learning, in addition to being such a negative impact on developing social skills.

My kids won’t have cell phones or be allowed to do facebook, etc., until out of high school. Maybe a cell phone, but it will be one that can only dial one number (home).

I would not say this principal is being a busybody. It is his job and responsibility to oversee the development of his students (educational and emotional), and letting parents know that FB is detrimental to this and suggesting that they ban it is just speaking the truth. Good for him. Wish more would follow.