Choose your posts carefully
In the space of a few short years, the world of social networking has changed the way many of us communicate, spend our time and form our opinions. It has loosened our tongues and our inhibitions, made us uber-communicative. It's a medium whose power is difficult to fathom, especially for its younger and most ardent users.
Social networking has the ability to join people together. And tear them apart. It's all in how you use it. A case study of the latter is unfolding in DuPage County.
A Wheaton mom and her teenage daughter are charged with attacking another woman and her daughter with steak knives in a dispute fueled by a disparaging comment posted on Facebook.
Judith E. Scott-Booker has been held in the county lockup for two weeks on a felony aggravated battery charge, while her daughter Brianna Smith, 18, is out on bail on a pair of misdemeanors.
Police say that on the night of Sept. 3, Scott-Booker stabbed 39-year-old Tiffany Scott nearly half a dozen times and Smith punched and hit Tiffany's daughter Natia Robinson, 18.
Why? Because someone called Smith's newborn daughter "ugly" in a Facebook post; Robinson was blamed for the posting. An argument escalated into violence, police say.
Not just tenuously connected Facebook friends, these girls had known each other since the fourth grade, according to a story by Christy Gutowski in Tuesday's Daily Herald.
Smith apologized on her Facebook page that someone was hurt, but said, "That's the price we all pay when we play silly games."
Granted, violence is not your typical response to a Facebook taunt but it illustrates how in such an enormous public forum a comment can be amplified. After all, how many teenagers do you know who have fewer than 300 Facebook "friends?"
Everyone can learn a lesson from this. Choose your words carefully - if not for the sake of civility, for the sake of your own safety.
It's not just pornography and online predators parents need to watch for on the Internet. They would do well to keep tabs on their kids' social networking as well.
A child's "dating" habits could draw labels from other kids. Once a photo is posted online, the poster loses a lot of control over where it goes next. Kids may good-naturedly make comments others see as bullying. The playground has gotten a lot bigger. And the damage can remain forever. Ill-advised postings can - and do - come back to haunt. Like a criminal record, social networking activity tells prospective employers a lot about a person's character.
So, kids, be aware of the problems you can cause for yourself and others with the things you post online. And, parents, keep tabs. It's for their own good.