Teen blogs' pros & cons

There are more and more stories in papers US-wide about teen blogging, pointing to both pros and cons. "I see incredible value to teen blogs," writes Joyce Valenza in a commentary in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Valneza knows a lot about blogging, not just because she has her own professional blog, but also because she's a high school librarian in the Philadelphia area and the mother of a blogger. "I know many teens who are newly motivated to write and who find themselves, for the first time, writing for a real audience. Groups of friends, remote and local, are brought closer in online communities." She also sees value in classroom blogging as "building a habit for the valuable sharing of knowledge." But she also acknowledges schools' legitimate concerns about "potential liability for personal blogging on school computers during recess and study halls. Bullying and unpleasant clique behaviors are part of teen culture." The Tuscaloosa News quotes a University of Alabama psychology professor as saying there's "ample research" showing that revealing secrets and sharing strong feelings is good for physical and psychological health - of course not when so much is revealed that an online predator can groom or stalk an unsuspecting blogger. Teen bloggers, the News reports, don't often think about the potential downside.