Blogs' downside

I'm showing my age and parental bias, but to me the story of 20-something x-rated blogger Jessica Cutler is a good example of how blogging with your friends can go very wrong. For Jessica, the Washington Post reports, having her blog found out by boyfriends and, eventually, clients on Capitol Hill was bad news (getting fired, losing a lover) and good news (a Playboy pictorial this fall and a six-figure book contract). But for the many teenagers who get publicly personal on their blogs but who don't mix it up with people in powerful places, blog "secrets" won't make them rich and may be discovered by future admissions directors, prospective employers, etc. Kids usually either don't think about the consequences of telling all in online journals/blogs or choose not to. The problem is, with the Internet, the consequences are often impossible to delete - ever. That's why I feel it's imperative that parents at least know if their children have online journals and maybe even know what's posted in them. It could lead to some valuable discussion on ethical online behavior and your family's values, as well as on protecting what people will be able to turn up about your children in search engines way into the future. For more on teen blogs, see "Daugher's blog, mom's dilemma", "Teens' blog life" in my 1/16 issue and "Understanding blogs" in my 2/7/03 issue. Don't miss the Post piece's fascinating comments about how the sexual revolution is looking these days - e.g., how "stripped of its feminist political ideology," it "has left legions of young women free but confused."