Many of my friends have a MySpace page. In fact, I don’t have a friend who doesn’t have a MySpace page. It seems like a lot of fun. You can make your own little page with a background, music, images, comments, and many other things. You can easily talk to your friends through MySpace. And if you don’t want people to know about it, you can set it to private so no one can see your page except for you and your friends. Seems like harmless, safe fun, right?

Wrong. I’m sure you’ve heard the “crazy people on the internet” speech over and over again, and even though that’s very true, that’s not what I’m talking about. I personally don’t want a MySpace page, no matter how fun it may be. Why? Because people aren’t the same on the internet.

When you talk to someone face to face, or even on the phone, they’re not likely to call you nasty names or insult you. Or at least, not NEAR as likely as it is on the internet or MySpace. I’ve seen and heard some of the things my own friends have said or done on MySpace, and it’s like I’m not talking to the same person anymore. People are mean, rude, hurtful, and say the cruelest things I’ve ever heard. Two of my friends once got into a big fight over something not very important. If they had confronted each other face to face, people would have gotten upset, but it would have lasted only maybe a day or two. But the fight was on MySpace, and instead they’re still angry at each other and it’s almost four months later. That’s because it’s permanent what you put up on MySpace, and everyone can see what people say to you and what you say to others. Not so much fun anymore, is it?

In my opinion, people who get into fights on the internet are nothing but wimps. If you can’t confront someone face to face, don’t confront them at all. All it does is prove that you’re too scared to say anything to them personally, so you do it through the internet. It’s stupid. And if someone’s being mean to you on the ‘net, it’s best to just ignore it instead of saying anything back. It’s not worth getting upset over, anyway, because by ignoring them, you’ve proved that you’ve won. But if you say something right back, then you’re only stooping to their level and causing a big fight that doesn’t need to happen.

Not only that, but I also dislike the “Top Friends” thing, either. Some people, including some of my friends, get very worked up on whether they’re on someone’s top friends or not. I once heard someone say, “She was on my top friends, and I’m not on hers, so I’m moving her down!” Wow. That’s incredibly tough and hateful, isn’t it? Again, nothing to get upset about. I personally don’t want to know how “important” I am to my friends, or have to number my own friends. Even though you can randomize, sometimes people get mad and use the top friends list to make people feel bad. It can be very hurtful to some people, no matter how insignificant it really is.

And to top it all of, let’s say you reach about twenty-three years old and you’re being interviewed for a very important job. You’ve totally forgotten about MySpace, even though you DID have one and do a few things on there when you were younger. You have a good degree, you’re very smart and confident, and you’re most likely going to get the job. But, wait... the manager finds out that you’ve put up inappropriate pictures of yourself before, and you’ve said some really rude things. Yeah, people can find that stuff out, believe it or not. And you’ve just lost the biggest opportunity of your life because of something you did when you were thirteen. Sucks, doesn’t it?

So next time you’re angry at someone for doing something to you, think it over before you put something mean on MySpace or the internet. This might not seem like a big deal, but trust me; everything you do on MySpace will one day come back and bite you in the butt. Just ask my friends. They’ve been hurt, angry, left crying in their bedrooms over silly things. And all for what, a cool background and a page with your favorite music? If you really want that, try making your own website!

The big question is, is a MySpace page worth having? Think about it next time. I’ve lived a perfectly fine life without one, and I’m sure you can, too. Or, at least, think about what you say on the web before it comes back to get you. You’ll regret it someday.