HW:7 My So-Called Blog

I think children should be able to express themselves on their blogs without having to worry about if their parents are going to read them. There are some things that children can talk to their parents about and some things that they can't, so they go to their friends to talk about their issues. Shy kids may have a hard time talking to their friends about something personal such as their depression or parents divorce so they write it on their blog so they do not have to have a face to face conversation with anyone that may make them feel uncomfortable. In "My So-Called Blog" by Emily Nussbaum, many of the kids write personal things on their blog that should not be written, I think under certain circumstances parents should be monitoring what their children say online however I do not think that they have the right to spy on their children and read what they write unless the child knows that they are doing it. Children need certain boundaries when it comes to using the internet depending on their age just to make sure that their children and others are being safe and not causing harm to themselves or others. Many of the children talk about personal encounters and problems on the internet to fit in and so that others will read their blog and comment and maybe somewhere down the line they will become friends. Emily herself writes "As the reality television stars put it, exposure may be painful at time, but it's all part of the process of "putting it out there", risking judgment, and letting people in." (Kline and Burstein, 352). Blogging lets the children know that they are known by others and that they are being listened to. On sites like LiveJournal, and Blurty, the children can read anyone’s blog even if the two are not friends besides on the internet. According to Emily, "It's a drama heightened by the fact that the journals are linked to one another, creating a constant juxtaposition of posts among the students."(Kline and Burstein 355).
What is all comes down to is that children do need to be monitored but only on a certain basis. The children do not need to have their parents going online and reading each blog that is posted because although the children are writing on a public journal/blog, they must be writing about things that they are not comfortable to talk to their parents about so reading each blog is like reading their diary.