myspace

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-04-2004
myspace
1
Tue, 04-03-2007 - 3:43pm

I have heard a lot about myspace in the past but no one under our roof was involved. About 3 months ago I inquired about it to my daughter. She had signed up for it but was never on because she knew how I felt about all the online stuff. I also knew that friends at her school were on it and she was being kind of left out. So I let her on it as long as her profile was private. No problem. So then it was so interesting I created a page for me. I love it. My page is also private but now I am in touch with family and friends that I had not talked to in ages. This is a lot of what she spends her time doing. If not on myspace on ther services (privately) and using voice chat with her friends including the guy she likes.

But one of the downfalls is seeing her bulletins she writes. my husband and I went through them all when I first created my page. I would see things like "Please IM me, I'm lonely" or " I'm bored. IM me." Today I noticed in the area about her she had made a comment, this is it "when i am sad you will be able to tell because i sound like i rather be dead......." So I see stuff like this and it scares me. But I see this kind of stuff on lots of teen bulletins. It just sounds so desperate. I think she does get frustated when friends arn't on but when she comes out of her room, there's always a smile on her face! or she jokes with us but she goes right back into her bedroom.

She is a moody child but I always figure it's hormones. She can be withdrawn sometimes but I think that's from the meds she use to be on. She was misdiagnosed with ADHD and was on meds for 4 years. They made her very shy and withdrawn and now that she is off meds, she is very shy still. Plus mental illness runs rampant on my DH side of the family.Two sisters are bi-polar, DH is OCD, although he won't admit it. :) So I tend to overthink every little thing she feels or does. Sometimes on myspace she has mentioned depression too. But I would not say all the time. I think she gets that way when she gets bored or lonely. She's an only child. At first DH and I were going to limit her computer time to one hour a day but I already know that would cause a lot of resentment to force her to be with us and have family time. I have talked to young adults and they say it's better to leave it alone and make family time but not to demand it.

Sorry for the 2nd rant of the day. I am just a mom with questions? :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-14-2000
In reply to: jymee
Tue, 04-03-2007 - 5:23pm

I'd keep a pretty close eye on it if I were you.

Pam