For Every Bad, There's Good
Erica Cuevas, 15
Massachusetts
I created my MySpace page last summer and this boy requested me as a friend. I added him like I do with everybody else because I like to collect friends. But then I received a message from him just saying hello and that he wanted to get to know me, so I replied. I was interested in getting to know people, too, so I told him that in my reply. From then on we started talking more often. It was fun because we were two complete strangers so we had a lot of things to talk about. We talked about past relationships, where we were from, our interests, and things like that. We became pretty good friends even though it was just online. Curiosity hit us both so we started talking on the phone. He sounded like a person around my age and on top of that he had a sexy voice. We would talk for hours on the phone about anything.
One day we decided to meet up because we talked a lot on the phone and on AIM, but that's still not the same as actually seeing someone in person. Before meeting him, I had a mixture of feelings. I mean, I was scared because you never know what could happen, and I was excited because I had been talking to this kid for so long and now I would finally get to meet him.
I didn't want to leave my house to go meet him at some random place because that's just too risky for me. I remember he asked me to meet him by the park near my house but I said no because I know that not a lot of people are around there. He was trying to watch his back too, so he came with his mother. It was pretty funny because the whole time we were together and walking around the block, I could see his mother driving by. Everything went great. It was like we knew each other for a really long time. He was a really sweet person and seemed like he would be a good boyfriend, but for that I knew I would have to get to know him better.
Photography by Amy Nadvornick, 14, Washington
I decided to tell my mother after all of it happened because I usually don't like to hide things from her and I wanted to share my experience with her. She was a little worried and surprised that I actually met the kid. I know she wasn't exactly mad because I didn't get punished or yelled at or anything like that. I just got a lecture about how I have to be careful with meeting people off the Internet. I didn't get mad at her because I understood that she was worried.
Now we're still friends and I actually met him one more time. We still talk and I don't regret meeting him. Luckily, I had good luck and unlike some girls who have met boys from the Internet, nothing bad happened. The key is to be careful about what you do.
News Flash!
Some teens like Erica Cuevas have had positive experiences with meeting other teens online, but others have ended up being put in danger by trusting people they've met online. These are just a sampling of cases that have hit the headlines.
- An 11-year-old female was sexually molested by a 22-year-old male after meeting him on MySpace. He drove from New Jersey to the girl's home in Connecticut and molested her in her playroom while her parents were asleep upstairs.
- A group of boys posed online as a 15-year-old girl named "Jessica" as a prank to cheer up a friend who just got out of a relationship. A 48-year-old man began sending sexual messages and pictures to the "girl" and arranged to meet her at a public park. The boys alerted the police and the man was arrested for attempted lewd and lascivious conduct with a child.
- A 14-year-old girl posted that she was 18 on MySpace, where she met 39-year-old "Smooth Biker in Black." Even after she admitted she was 14, he repeatedly visited her after school and molested her one day in his car.
- A 13-year-old girl was reported missing after skipping school to meet a 27-year-old man she had met on MySpace and had been meeting with for months. He was arrested after sexually assaulting her in a motel room the day she went missing.
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Are you using MySpace or other social networking sites? How do you stay safe when you are meeting people online? Have you had any problems?
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Did You Know?
• Approximately 230,000 new users sign up on MySpace each day.
• 1 out of every 10 kids and teens who use AIM say someone has threatened them while they were instant messaging.
• In England, a study found that 1 in 4 children have been bullied or threatened through their cell phone or computer.
• The U.S. Congress is considering the Deleting Online Predators Act which would restrict social networking sites to those 18 or older and block access to these sites in schools and libraries.
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