Social media has downside

What could be dangerous about using the “social media” like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter?
I mean, Pope Benedict XVI is tweeting, for goodness sake!
That’s exactly my point: when used for goodness sake, the social media can be fun and can help us keep connected with friends and family.
But, there is a dark side to the social media that can be especially dangerous for children and teens.
Kirsten “Kiki” Ostrenga is a name you may not have heard. Her experience with the social media was the subject of stories in The New York Times and in Rolling Stone.
Thirteen-years-old, lonely and bullied in a new school after her family moved from Chicago to southern Florida, her parents took her out of school to be educated at home.
To help her connect with other children, her parents thought that an on-line presence would be helpful. She established a small business, and she also was allowed to establish an on-line persona on MySpace as a creative exercise. Her screen name: Kiki Kannibal.
The on-line business struggled, but her MySpace presence took off, unfortunately like an unguided rocket, because Kiki attracted “friends” by displaying provocative photographs of herself.
In the viral way of the Web, she became an instant celebrity, but that celebrity had the high price of attracting frightening insults and threats and frightening people – stalkers and predators.
One “friend” she attracted was an 18-year-old man who began to “groom” her and her family with a skill born of much practice. Only after Kiki disclosed that she had been psychologically coerced to have sex with this person did her family realize that he had done the same thing – meet young girls through social media and then sexually abuse them – time and time again.
Kiki’s story is extreme, but hardly unique. There are many young victims of the pursuit of celebrity for its own sake and the faux friendships that spring up in the virtual world of social media.
It seems to me that the pattern of social media horror stories reflects a deeper trend in our society toward narcissism and exhibitionism. This trend is not evident only on the Internet. Sadly, you only have to walk through a mall to get a full dose of each.
Whatever the sociological causes of this trend, it is important as people of faith that we recognize it and respond to it.
The virtual world of social media is neither good nor bad, but it is a tool that can be used for good or for bad.
We must provide clear direction and be healthy models for our children so that they can form attitudes and values consistent with our faith. We really do need to hold their hands and help them look both ways before they cross the streets of the social media.
If you or anyone you know has experienced abuse by a priest, deacon, sister, brother, employee or volunteer for the Roman Catholic Church or for the Diocese of Tucson – no matter when or where the abuse happened – we urge you to report the abuse immediately to law enforcement. Also, we encourage you to call the Victim Assistance Program of the Diocese of Tucson at 1-800-234-0344 in Arizona and the Office of Child, Adolescent and Adult Protection of the Diocese of Tucson at 520-792-3410. More information is available at www.diocesetucson.org/ocaap.html.