MySpace: Hysterical & Sad

I set up a MySpace account just so I could access information of various people as I find the need. I don't remember my teenage years being like what I see portrayed on these angst-ridden profiles strewn about MySpace like debris from an overturned garbage truck. Maybe it's because the Internet and computer culture didn't exist when I was that age. I find the silly attempts by these children and child-adults to appear all pouty, dark and sexy hysterical. Everyone looks like they are trying to emulate some awful music video fashion mistake. Boys, girls and all the in-betweens have too much makeup and jewelry attached to their anorexic bodies--the gay gym boys excluded of course. I am surprised at how many teen boys consider themselves gay. I suppose, in some ways, a social networking site like this is good because it helps everyone find others like themselves. The bad aspect is the phoney, plastic, shallow reality that is created among users. They are trying to live out life as portrayed in their favorite media.

Apparently, the digital self-portrait in the mirror is even considered a cliché here, which is surprising since most of the pages show a complete lack of design skill or taste. I haven't seen so much garbage floating by since the last flood in Pittsburgh! Busy backgrounds, blinking, floating backgrounds and unreadable type defeat the purpose of whatever communication is trying to be made there. I'm a Ritalin child and this stuff is even too hyper for me!

The saddest aspect of all is the pages of those who, for whatever reason, are no longer living. Snippets of comments, galleries of photos and personal information become ghosts of the Internet. Yesterday, the sister of one of my son’s friends was apparently murdered by her boyfriend. I think I only met her once but there were many times when she and the boyfriend came and picked up my son. Her younger sister was his girlfriend at the time. My son is much like me in the way he keeps his feelings all shoved way down inside. I know he must be badly affected by the events but he isn’t showing. The whole thing is incomprehensible to me even. A very beautiful, intelligent 19 year old girl, who had so much promise, having her life cut so brutally short. What is wrong with these kids? Murder, suicide and assaults over broken relationships. There is a failure to teach these kids how to handle basic aspects of life. There seems to be a general problem in America and that is the penchant for treating other people like property. The “if I can’t have you, nobody will” mindset is becoming all to common.

Parents, teach your children well…