Mom and Dad, you know what your kids are thinking and talking about?
And you high school and college-age kids out there, you guys know that your folks can easily get an uncut picture of what you’re thinking and talking about?
Boobless and hipless in Sweet Home, huh?
And just what is “dirka, dirka, dirka?”
I know it’s a joke, but come on, “books are for fags?”
That video of the cat attacking the toddler is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Thank you.
If you’re wondering what in tarnation I’m talking about, I’m describing some of the engaging entries on the myspace.com Web site, where people of all ages can meet and hang out, including many of our local teens. On myspace.com, among the young, sex and alcohol reign. That includes many of the “good” kids who work so hard at school and sports, not just the “bad” kids hanging out on the corner.
Parents, if you think you know what your children are up to, guess again. Remember your own days in high school and college, how much your own folks knew about your activities? Guess what, this generation isn’t much different. It can be fascinating, perhaps disturbing, to take a look and see just what’s on your kids’ minds.
I would have thought that Old English 800 would have been long gone, but 40s of that cheap, nasty, malted beer-like stuff is still apparently cheap enough kids can buy a ton of it to get drunk. But now they post photos of themselves drinking it.
On this Web site, people come to each other for advice. One girl told a guy she liked him, but wasn’t sure what to do about it after he gave her a hug. A friend told her she shouldn’t read too much into it — but to move forward. Another told her to “do him” but “use a condom — No babies.”
Myspace.com might make a few parents proud. At least two girls, one of them lying about her age so she could make a profile, affirm they don’t want to lose their virginity until they marry.
And the latest basketball games are a hot topic among local athletes.
A lot of these young people don’t like Sweet Home. They call it the “black hole of Oregon” or “Sweet Hole.” The third name can’t be printed here, but it’s not hard to figure out. Somehow, kids think life is different elsewhere, that there’s somehow more to do. Growing up in Salem, I heard the same thing from all my friends. I’ve heard the same thing from my younger on-line acquaintances about wherever they live.
One girl writes to a college student, “I bet you’re glad be back at school and not in Sweet Home. Lucky you.”
Other kids take a stand for Jesus Christ. One writes, “Jesus Rocks.”
One said you know you’re a child of the ’90s if “you remember when New Kids on the Block were cool.” Word of advice here: New Kids on the Block were never cool. Yeesh.
Another young man, age 15, writes “I think babies taste good.” Funny, but he also goes on about the glory of marijuana and tells everyone visiting they should try it. If they don’t try it, they’re either “(expletive deleted)” or a “goodie good person.”
The professed motto of one high school student is to “live life, get paid, get laid.”
As for the guy who wrote “I got warrants. Don’t tell anyone you saw me here. I will have to murder;” well here it is, he’s been spotted on myspace.com.
The most interesting pages are from high school kids through those in their early-20s. Older people really do get boring, I guess. Either that, or they become more discreet.
Myspace.com amuses me. In other words, I haven’t found my son’s myspace.com page yet. Here’s to hoping he posts one, so I can check him out. He already found out the hard way how important it is to cover your tracks when browsing the Web.
This is really not much different than when most adults were in high school. Except, now parents can get an eye-full. Most of the conversation is just that — innocent chatter, and a big chunk of it is no big deal, just friends saying hi to friends.
But parents should still check it out. It’s the little things on the kids’ pages that are usually most interesting, such as the profile question: Do you drink? Most of the younger folk around Sweet Home answer yes.
Go to myspace.com. Click on browse. Fill in the details in the form, such as whether you’re looking for men or women. Enter your ZIP code and some radius around it, and then click update. For Sweet Home, you can type in 97386 and five miles. Then read all about your neighbors.
Myspace.com users, use your heads. Your parents can see this. Your family can see it. Your relatives can see it. Your pastor can see it. Six billion people can see it if they can get to an Internet connection.
Ask yourself whether you have things on your page that might embarrass you if some of these folks took a look or if I actually attached names to what I’ve described above. And yes, I know who many of you are from your photo. Not that I had to figure it out from photos — Many of you attach your real names to it. Crazy.
This information is not private.