HW 7: My So-Called Blog

I think that kids should be able to say what they feel online without their parents interrupting. Teenagers have a hard time expressing how they feel when talking a stranger. It makes it especially difficult when the therapist is provided through the school which has readily available contact with that teens parents. In the case of LiveJournal or Xenga, the keyboard is the therapist. "It allows them to say things they wouldn't otherwise say, to be hurtful at a distance." (Kline & Burstein, pg. 359). Some may interpret this as a bad thing. However, if the child is thinking it, there isn't any more harm done by saying it. Though online journals are thought of as being "emo", "My So-Called Blog" explains that it is becoming popular among all teenagers, even jocks. "Then there are the kind of posts that fulfill a parent's worst paranoia. 'It was like just a nite of lying to my dad,' reads one entry posted last fall. 'At like 7ish we started drinking, but i didn't have THAT much. And i figured out y i drink so much. Cuz i really really don't like being sober with drunk people....i have more homework to do than imaginable. And to make it better, im hungover and feel sick. Great....great. DRINKING IS BAD!!' (Kline & Burstein, pg. 354) This quote may appear as a nightmare to most parents, however to a teenager this is quite real. Though the quoted teenager had been drinking that weekend instead of doing homework, it shows that he more intelligent than the teenagers accompanying the festivities. "I don't talk to them about anything. They'll be like, 'How was school?' And I'll be lke, 'Fine.' And that was it"Parents need to become more involved in their childrens lives. After school clubs and sports are not a safe alternative for parenting.