OK here is a situation I am curious on everyone's thoughts as to what they would do. This is not a real situation with me currently, but definitely something youth pastors are dealing with.
Students in your youth group have a MySpace account, and they find you on it or you find them. The student "adds" you as a friend and then you have total access to their alternate world. You then read messages or bulletins posted from them that are inappropriate (sexual, drugs, etc). You wonder if the student realizes they are sharing this information with the world in a very real way. You also realize this is stuff that has never been shared at church or in your youth group setting, not to mention their parents have no idea either. So here are a few questions I have about a situation like this:
- What is your initial reaction to this information?
- Do you confront the student immediately?
- Do you tell the parents immediately?
- Do you not say anything yet, and proceed with caution?
I guess for us a youth workers the ultimate question to ask ourselves is, "Do we have something in place (policy, step by step guide, etc) in our youth ministry to deal with a situation like this?
MySpace is real and can be both good and bad and it is our responsibility as youth workers to be informed of the current culture of our students and be prepared to deal with these type of situations.
I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Thanks everyone for sharing.
John
1 comment:
Myspace.com can be a great tool, a dangerous neighborhood, and a virtual reality. Parents need to be involved with understanding how myspace.com can and does affect and influence their children.
If a child has sinful content on their myspace.com, I think the bible lays out a good plan for us to follow.
Confront the person/sin Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.
As far as informing parents of the issue, I understand a leader not wanting to discuss the issue in order to validate the existing trust relationship. Unfortunately, I believe a serious liability exists, if a child overdosed or was sexually assaulted and we had not disclosed our knowledge of the potential risks.
Perhaps a proactive approach to teach parents how to get a myspace.com so they can monitor their child's activities could prevent some of these issues.
My $.02, Cass
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