Forum addresses dangers of social networking sites

Thursday, March 11, 2010

MILFORD – More than 20 local residents took it upon themselves to go face-to-face with Facebook in the Keyes Meeting Room at the Milford Library on Feb. 22.

The event, titled “The Many Faces of Facebook,” was a joint presentation of the Milford Library and Officer Mark Pepler, the Milford Police Department’s juvenile officer, and was geared towards informing parents and young adults about the potential dangers of Facebook and other social networking sites.

The approximately 90-minute presentation introduced basic information about Facebook to the crowd as well as statistics and information on other Internet issues facing youth safety such as sexting, cyberbulling and the use of social networking in drug sales.

“I don’t think (the parents in attendance) need to be scared. I think they’ll be a little more cautious as well as more proactive on what their children are doing and whom they are communicating with,” said Pepler, who stated during the evening that 65 percent of Milford Middle School students have a Facebook account, including those who are1 too young to have one under Facebook’s policies.

“I think those are the important things that kids don’t understand how the information out there can be used, and it can put them in harm’s way. I hope the parents check out the settings and privacy modes and talk to their kids about this.”

Some in attendance, such as Stephen Taylor of Milford, came to the event just to learn about the site.

“I know (Facebook) is a problem area, and I just wanted to know because I don’t trust it,” Taylor said. “Things are very misleading on how you set it up. Young people today are becoming very detached with each other and their realities; they’re losing contacts and those social skills.”

Others, such as United Church of Christ minister Leonard Zecchini of Lyndeborough, came to better understand how to use Facebook and other social networking platforms.

“I did access a Facebook account in order to access this information from my church. I occasionally get requests from people who need to be my friend. I never said yes, but I need to go back into that account and make sure those provisions are set up properly,” Zecchini said. “I don’t know if I’ll use Facebook after tonight, but I’ll investigate it. It’s part of our world and as a clergyman, I need to be aware of what it is they’re doing, though not individually their private information, but I can’t be blind to the fact that Facebook exists. “

In the end, the main theme of the evening was to be careful online.

“If you don’t feel comfortable telling something to your immediate family, if you felt you’d have to hide something from your immediate family that you’re putting on the account, then you shouldn’t be putting it on the account,” Pepler said. “That goes back to spouses that speak to ex-boyfriends and girlfriends right down to kids saying things about other kids and stuff. Just use common sense and be nice and treat others how you’d like to be treated yourself.”

The event was organized by Reference and Adult Services Librarian Lucinda Mazza, who noticed a trend regarding Facebook at the library.

“I wouldn’t necessary say that (Facebook’s) a problem, but we do have a lot of young patrons, and a lot of them come to the library to access their accounts, and we get a lot of people asking us questions on how to set it up and how secure it is,” Mazza said. “I felt that it was something important for the community, here at the library we have experienced some of the cyberbulling that has been occurring at the middle school here in Milford and some of the children and young adults here at the library that were involved expressed concern to us.

“What we wanted to do is open it up to bring in adults to learn about it to protect their children and to bring in young adults to understand it better because it’s so new to everybody, and these young adults need to understand the magnitude of what Facebook is and how far reaching it is.”