Good and Bad in Online Journals

Opinion
By Rachel Nowery
In the last issue of the Chronicle, MySpace was under our writer’s telescope, so to speak. The articles discussed the good and the bad about the internet journals. Yes, online journals can be dangerous to people, especially children, but not all of it is bad or destructive.

I personally do not use MySpace, but I do have an online journal at a similar site: Xanga.com. I have had my own journal for roughly a year now, and I have never received any comments from people I did not know. I use my journal mostly to talk to my friends who live anywhere from across town to across the country. It is my way of keeping in touch. I also use it to “publish” my writings/poetry. The site lets me have good and bad feedback from my friends and family and boosts my confidence in myself as a writer.

However, with the positive aspects come the negative ones as well. Unlike MySpace, Xanga has more pre-teens and younger teenagers as users. This makes the younger users of Xanga more vulnerable to “danger.” Just like on any site, users are given the option of posting their names, ages, what state they live in, and what city even (used mostly for the bigger cities). Despite precautions from parents, school officials, and police, some kids still post this personal information for the whole internet community to see. I have noticed that the older people get on Xanga, the less likely they are to post that close information. But the younger users don’t seem to see the harm in posting their information.

MySpace and Xanga are very good tools to use for someone who is venting about a bad term paper, or a breakup, or even their views on God. Sites like this are good to an extent, but stricter security needs to be placed on the younger users. This way, they will be protected and still have their freedom of speech.