Has "Xanga" taken over at your house?

[rascalmom]

I remember being a teenager - my parents had to resort to getting me my own phone line. All I did when I was home was talk on the phone!

Now with my two dd's it is Xanga & IM ALL the time.

Do your kids do this too, or is this a local phenomenon?

How much supervision do you give it?

I'll admit to being a bit nosey - hey, it's out there for anyone to read, right?

 

[Christine]

No, this is not a regional thing.

My DD has been into it for a few years. She's now left Xanga and moved on to MySpace.com, where all of her friends are. The IM is constant too.

This year, during the weekdays, I put a 15-30 minute limit on it. Otherwise they will stay on all night.

 

[sha_lyn]

Oh yes Xanga had taken over our house LOL. 16 DS has a blog, and was horrified to know I've been reading it. So have a couple of my friends (usually when they find his listed as subscribed to their childs Xanga). All the teens are a bit upset to know we are reading their blogs, but IMHO it is well within our rights/duty as parents since the blogs are there for the whole world to see. In fact as many times as I've told DS not to give out his last name and city of residence, I found he had both listed for public viewing on Xanga. He just didn't think about it, and filled out all the info they asked for, but he knew not to every put it in an IM, chat,on a BB etc.

 

[rascalmom]

Lol, yep - my kids weren't thrilled when they found out I had read theirs. (DD17 has no idea that I have read her boyfriend's too!) Some of it is quite amusing - kind of like being a fly on the wall. They're all good kids - the only one that had anything remotely "questionable" on there is our youth pastor's daughter. Her mom is my bf - not sure how to handle that one!

I did see that my younger dd has made herself a year older - not sure if she meant to do this, or if she really thinks she was born in '91. At 13, she is old enough for Xanga, but not MySpace. Did find a cell phone # on there - made sure that was taken off.

Guess it is harmless, I just prefer to hear them talking & laughing on the phone.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Well my oldest is 13 1/2. I have her on "young teen" AOL, which means she can IM but not chat. I have the parental control and plan on keeping it until she turns 18! I think chat is so dangerous. I don't think she has a myspace or xanga thing going; she is limited to one hour a day online.
Robin M.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Rock'n Robin -- if she has AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) she's not governed by parental controls on AOL, so you may want to watch for that

My kids have Xanga & My Space, and I do check their blogs periodically. My dd knows I check her Xanga, but I don't think they know I check their My Space -- I've found out a couple of interesting things, but haven't brought them up since they're not illegal ... I think that sometimes it's worse having to decide when my actions go from guiding to controlling...

It's the IMs that I can't read and I am more concerned about those conversations with their friends than their blogs.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

Yeah, Xanga took over my house last year...and my daughter learned how much fun "CUTTING" can be to relieve the pains of life there.

After a two-week hospitalization and a year of counseling, she's feeling much better. But XANGA is a very ugly word in our house. I can't believe some of the CR** some teens post there. It makes me wonder how much supervision they're really getting from their parents.

We thought we were supervising well enough by visiting all the websites she went to...but it obviously wasn't good enough.

Let them be teens, but watch closely. You can never be too careful with the ones you love!

 

[Sparx]

I never liked xanga. I while ago I had one, but I never used it, and I finally forgot about it. I don't even remember the name of it. I do have a myspace and I am fairly active on it, I like it more than xanga.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

DD14 found Xanga shortly after the school year started. Most everything she says includes "on Xanga".

 

[Lil_Tink]

I have a myspace and use it to talk to my friends..My myspace I do have pictures but only my state and Kim not _________, Hawaii or Kim __________ and require only people I know to add me or talk to me

 

[Lil_Tink]

But unlike everyone at my school. I am not obsessed with it all you hear at school is "I changed my myspace.." " Did you add me?" "I saw your page!!!' "Did you read my blog" Me and my friends are just like "GET OVER MYSPACE!!!!" I mean we go on but arent obsessed.