http://www.bostonmagazine.com/boston_daily/2008/02/28/harvard-joins-forces-with-chris-hanson-sort-of/ Just another www.bostonmagazine.com weblog Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:48:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.2.1 /boston_daily/2008/02/28/harvard-joins-forces-with-chris-hanson-sort-of/#comment-5921 Dr. Larry Rosen Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:27:55 +0000 /boston_daily/2008/02/28/harvard-joins-forces-with-chris-hanson-sort-of/#comment-5921 FROM DR. LARRY ROSEN Professor of Psychology and Internet researcher: When I originally read the press release I had to stifle hysterical laughter. I'm sure that they have finally figured it out!!! An electronic solution! Wow! That is sure to stop those young kids from being online.... Yep .. that's right. Let's provide parents and social networks with more unusable electronic leashes. What happened to providing "parenting" instruction to these parents so that there is no reason for the kids to do anything bad without being aware of the consequences? I don't know what the task force costs but it is a band aid solution at best (and a leaky one at that). Do they really think that better electronic solutions are going to do anything at all to this generation of techno-savvy kids? You may as well try to hold your hands up to stop a tsunami. Within a few minutes of instituting any electronic barriers, the kids will have a “work-around” posted on their MySpace page and on a variety of websites that already have work-arounds for other electronic “solutions.” Perhaps parents would be better served to read my book: “Me, MySpace, and I: Parenting the Net Generation” for information on “real” solutions that involve no electronic barriers. More information about my work can be found at http://www.Me-MySpace-and-I.com FROM DR. LARRY ROSEN Professor of Psychology and Internet researcher: When I originally read the press release I had to stifle hysterical laughter. I’m sure that they have finally figured it out!!! An electronic solution! Wow! That is sure to stop those young kids from being online…. Yep .. that’s right. Let’s provide parents and social networks with more unusable electronic leashes. What happened to providing “parenting” instruction to these parents so that there is no reason for the kids to do anything bad without being aware of the consequences? I don’t know what the task force costs but it is a band aid solution at best (and a leaky one at that). Do they really think that better electronic solutions are going to do anything at all to this generation of techno-savvy kids? You may as well try to hold your hands up to stop a tsunami. Within a few minutes of instituting any electronic barriers, the kids will have a “work-around” posted on their MySpace page and on a variety of websites that already have work-arounds for other electronic “solutions.” Perhaps parents would be better served to read my book: “Me, MySpace, and I: Parenting the Net Generation” for information on “real” solutions that involve no electronic barriers. More information about my work can be found at http://www.Me-MySpace-and-I.com

]]> /boston_daily/2008/02/28/harvard-joins-forces-with-chris-hanson-sort-of/#comment-5853 Gretchen Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:23:12 +0000 /boston_daily/2008/02/28/harvard-joins-forces-with-chris-hanson-sort-of/#comment-5853 This is great, and needs to be done. My Space and the rest of them to change their sites to stop all the 10-14 year old kids from signing up. What does it say about the parents who actually know their child has a page, and has allowed that child to lie about their age to have that page?? Make it harder to have a page, such as having to give a valid credit card number or something...or have a completely separate "teen" site, where at the very least the ads would be appropriate. Of course, nothing is stopping an older person from pretending to be a teen in that sense, but it is a start. This is great, and needs to be done. My Space and the rest of them to change their sites to stop all the 10-14 year old kids from signing up. What does it say about the parents who actually know their child has a page, and has allowed that child to lie about their age to have that page??
Make it harder to have a page, such as having to give a valid credit card number or something…or have a completely separate “teen” site, where at the very least the ads would be appropriate. Of course, nothing is stopping an older person from pretending to be a teen in that sense, but it is a start.

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