Don’t feel bad; I hadn’t heard of it either until today, when I read this article from the New York Times.
Formspring.me is basically yet another social networking site, but its main use is to post anonymous questions and comments, many of which are cruel and vicious. It can be linked to a user’s Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr accounts where users post questions and invite their “friends” to answer them and make comments. Its popularity has grown among teens and tweens, and the anonymity Formspring affords gives young people leeway to say whatever they really think.
Unfortunately, a lot of what ends up being posted, which isn’t even everything that’s said, is highly detrimental to a young person’s sense of self. Nasty comments about a person’s appearance, hygiene and sexual activity seem to be the norm.
The very last line of the article, an interview with a teen’s mom, summarizes it for me best:
“…I do think this whole online social media thing is a huge experiment on our children.”
Had you heard of Formspring before? What’s your opinion?
Wow. Never heard of it. I’m not sure what I think. On the one hand, the parent in me wants to scream, “Totally inappropriate!” But on the other hand, the former 12-yr-old in me knows that kids being mean to kids is nothing new. I’m not encouraging it or condoning it; on the contrary, I’m trying very hard to teach my boys appropriate behavior. I just think that kids will find a way to be mean, with or without technology and with or without our approval.
Jenny
http://www.bloggingboutboys.blogspot.com
.-= Jennifer Fink´s last blog ..Homeschooling Boys =-.
Sarah,
I found this disturbing, too. And I don’t even have kids.
I’ve heard of it because two of my f/b friends (a childbirth educator and a young cousin) both have it. While most of the questions the CBE gets are related to birth in some way, not all of them are; I haven’t noticed much from my cousin, but I may just be missing the questions. Like anything else, it is not so much the particular thing (TV, the internet, a concrete block) that makes it good or bad, but how it is used (or abused). One of the questions the CBE was asked — and answered! — was what her address was. Not sure why that would need to be known (although it would probably be easily found by knowing her name and approximate location). Formspring is kinda weird if you ask me.
.-= Kathy´s last blog ..Wow =-.
Good point, Kathy. It’s not Formspring itself that’s objectionable, but the way it’s used. Kids will always find some way to trash each other, I guess, but this seems especially brutal.
I agree, Jenny. They definitely will find a way to be mean. As you say, it’s important to teach our kids appropriate behavior so hopefully they won’t participate in that sort of activity to begin with. Not only is it awful to read mean comments about yourself, doling them out isn’t healthy either.