Generation MySpace: Helping Your Teen Survive Online Adolescence

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(4 stars) - Generation MySpace
The first book to leave the stack of books I have recorded here (on my blogs' list of reading material) is Generation MySpace: Helping Your Teen Survive Online Adolescence by Candice M. Kelsey, Marlowe & Company, New York, 2007. While I am a bit older than an adolescent, and if ever I do have children, by the time they reach that difficult age, I will have something else to contend with besides MySpace, I was still drawn to this book for its insights on MySpace's peculiar brand of social networking.

In a posting to a thread in our Forums area, a part of thoughts some of us over here amongst the blogs do not much frequent, and vice versa, I made the following remark.

No longer reading the Generation MySpace title cited earlier. If you have young teenagers just venturing forth into cyber socializing, I would enjoin you to read this, otherwise there are massive sections which can be skimmed over. But much of the sociological analysis, as it pertains to places such as MySpace are well worth reading even for the childless, despite the fact this teacher specifically wrote the book for parents.

Ms. Kelsey, a high school teacher, was motivated to write this book because of the profound impact she noticed MySpace had upon her students. It was an alarming development for her once she became acquainted with the licentiousness and disclosure which was taken for granted, even pressured into being, by one's peers in MySpace. Students who were almost mousy and goody=goody by day were sporting pimped out profiles with a lecherous come hither air to them by night. And coming into class exhausted and with red eyes, absent their homework and lacking attentiveness, for having spent the night before hooking up with several hundred friends online.

Kelsey approached the matter like an amateur cultural anthropologist, opening up an account as a 15 year old, and hanging out in an effort to better understand her own students' nocturnal behaviors. What she found shook her, particular in light of how yet underdeveloped and impressionable such young people are. The book she offers is a guide to parents trying to better understand the inner lives of their adolescents, but also a treatise on the socio-dynamics of this ever increasingly important place in our daily lives -- the realms of our online friendships.

Recommended, even for the old guys without kids.

(4 stars) - This is a very good place to start!
Generation MySpace is a well written book and is a very good place to start for parents trying to get their arms around the whole internet/social networking thing. Kelsey writes the book in a fairly blunt manner which I think is needed here. She doesn't mince many words and kind of "lays it out there." Too many books on this subject simply try to tell you to "talk with your teen" and "make some household rules" but don't go far enough in addressing the fact that most teens are not just victims to the junk on the internet, they are often pursuing it.

The author also lays out some pretty good checklists and rules for internet use (and other web-enabled devices). I'd recommend this book.

(5 stars) - Recommended for parents of pre-teens and teens
I highly recommend this book for parents of, and people who work with, pre-teens and teenagers, especially those who are not comfortable using the latest web 2.0 tools (if you don't know what this is and you have children ages 10 - 16, you need to read this book!). As a school district technology specialist for grade K - 12 schools, I see and hear many stories about how kids are using social networking sites - often without parents knowing what they are doing. Even those kids whose parents do not allow them to use these tools at home are finding ways to use them elsewhere.

The book takes you step by step through the process of viewing and creating a My Space site before suggesting you try to access the sites set up by your own children and their friends. It is informative, without lecturing, and has practical advice for communicating with your children about online etiquette and safety.

(5 stars) - Excellent! A MUST READ for any parent curious about MySpace.
This book is highly fascinating in its ability to connect to it's readers. Any parents with kids interested in MySpace should read this fantastic book. It takes you through the steps of setting up an account so you, the parent, can experience MySpace first hand. As a college student and young professional, I find this book to be a resource for myself as a social worker and for parents. I highly reccomend this book!

(5 stars) - Excellent! Highly recommended for concerned partents
I wish I had the information in this enlightening book two years ago when my daughter first began using myspace. I truly like the easy yet intelligent command of the english language the author has used to portray to her audience how there are many facets to be concerned with that involve our youth and how they engage, influence, and deeply affect our children while behind closed doors in their own rooms for endless hours on Myspace. We as parents are so often busy, tired, and all to often aloof to the significant dangers of the inner psychological repurcussions that are manifesting while our children sit mesmerized and addicted in this 'unchaperoned private club.' It is not to late, and to educate ourselves is paramount if we as loving and concerned parents are to help facilitate a change in the amount of time and usage we allow our precious children to interact on this massive meeting place. Afterall, we are their guardians and we must help them with positive action at this vulnerable time in their lives. Be informed, that is what this book does in a most potent way! Excellent job Candice Kelsey and thank you! You obviously are a person who cares and who wants to make a difference to your students and to all others-far beyond the perimiters of your own classroom.

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