MXit lashes out at poor media reporting

Do you think the media is reporting unfairly or sensationally when it comes to MXit?

  • Yes

    Votes: 107 81.7%

  • No

    Votes: 24 18.3%
  • Total voters
    131
I must say that the headlines irritated me as well. ‘MXit girl kidnapped’ or things like it. What on earth makes MXit the most significant aspect of her or her kidnapping? Was it even a kidnapping?
 
People need a scapegoat. It makes them feel better. Sad, but true. Fact is that the psychos of this world will do anything by any means and use any medium to achieve it. MXit is just unfortunately the middle man/medium/scapegoat.
 
MXit must take them all to the cleaners....

That is the only way they will learn. The media is tarnishing a company name. Don't get me wrong I hate Mxit. But not for the reasons they are always in the media for.
 
Well, the father actually phoned in to 702 yesterday and said that he will only speak to the media once all the red tape and other police issues have been dealt with. So it would be very unfair to jump the gun and blame MXit for this.

It's also pretty daft to blame MXit for this issue. How are they responsible for all 15 million users of their service? They're not...all they do is provide the service, give general guidelines on how and how not to use it and the rest is up to the end user and if the end user happens to be a child, then the parents have to step in and make sure their kids use it appropriately.
 
rpm said:
I must say that the headlines irritated me as well. ‘MXit girl kidnapped’ or things like it. What on earth makes MXit the most significant aspect of her or her kidnapping? Was it even a kidnapping?
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I totally agree.. its a technology.. its like blaming telephones or why not the cellphone hardware providers... or the mobile operators for giving her an internet connection?

Its really really pathetic reporting by a journalist whos pretty limited in thinking.

I hope MXIT takes ETV to court.
 
rpm said:
I must say that the headlines irritated me as well. ‘MXit girl kidnapped’ or things like it. What on earth makes MXit the most significant aspect of her or her kidnapping? Was it even a kidnapping?
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afaik i dont think it was kidnapping..more like stouterguit on here side:confused:
 
I wouldn't say all media references were unfair, maybe sensationalistic yes, but that drives all news stories, even this one. Etv was sensationalistic, but accurate non the less. The girl DID communicate with a suspicious person on MXit before her disappearance.
I do agree though that parents and the like may have formed a warped impression about MXit due to all the negative publicity regarding MXit in the media in the past.
 
It is time that parents start to take full responsibility for their child's upbringing. Most children do things far worse than chat with strangers on MXit. Including watching porn both on their cellphones and on home dvd's. It will continue to be the responsibility of the parents to control and monitor what child can and can't do. Interestingly enough, parent's hardly give a damn about school home works of their children.

I am a school teacher and get surprised to realise that parent often deny to come to school when called and usually give reasons like; they are not the one's schooling. The same parent would get upset with educators if their child's cellphone were to be confiscated at school for being used in class.

I am making a plea to all parents to start taking full responsibility for their child's behaviour and conduct.

I believe that eTV and other media should apologize for reporting the way they did about about the so called MXit girl.
 
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Most times parents don't check up on their kids and thats the big thing.

This girl chose to go out with a guy on mxit, i don't know how many times i've seen the words, don't share your personal information with strangers... flippit even mxit is trying to help the kids so that they don't get hurt...

but no mxit is just a place where "paedo's" meet (according to parents)

I think i should start a TV program, how to use mxit and how to stop your kids from accessing chatrooms, also what kind of different chat programs are around.
 
I, for one, am tired of the media blaming cellphones, twitter, social networking, irc or mxit every time a teenager does something stupid.

It's like this century's demonic possession.
 
mxit is being used as a scapegoat for lax parenting and failed home policies.
 
The net is vast and infinite. Youngsters no longer need to venture outdoors to see the best and the worst of what this world has to offer, its all at there fingertips.

Mixit, Facebook and Bebo etc are small fry compared to some of the darker, seedier places in the web. Want to find pedophiles and stalkers, look no further than Second Life and Furcadia which are very popular amongst children and teenagers.

The problem doesn't lie with these venues, it lies with the generation gap between children of today and their parents.

Some of us on this forum have children. We take it for granted that we are an adult generation who know the dangers, yet many parents don't know how to inform their children of the pitfalls because they themselves hardly know how to use a PC and most have never heard of Second Life, Bebo etc etc

So many social demographics come into play as well, if a child or teenager doesn't communicate with their parents about any doubts they feel about someone then the danger is worse. One side of the coin is that teenagers want to be independant. So let them be, but they need to be aware of the dangers and take an almost cynical approach to anything online.

A simple warning checklist for kids and teens are:


1. If this person does not have a webcam and are unable to show who they really are, they stay away from them.
2. Stay away from people who talk about sex or your body, or their body.
3. Anything you do on a webcam or any pictures you send to people(even you're friends or a boyfriend) can easily be uploaded onto the internet for the entire world to see, that includes all your friends and family.
4. NEVER give any details about where you live, where you go to school, or anything about your town where you live and that includes any venues of sports or extra mural activities you may be involved in.

Edit: Youngsters need to be taught how to put somebody through a validation process. For instance, this person you've been talking to on World of Warcraft, Furcadia, Mxit, MSN or Second Life etc, do they have an internet profile like Bebo or FB? If yes then have you seen this person on webcam or skype to prove their online profile isn't fake? If yes then they're good to go. If not then stay away they're dangerous!!!

I honestly think we need a sticky of some time for internet safety since a lot of people use this forum, many with kids and teens and we can keep it updated and made aware of dangers!
 
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rebel998 said:
Mxit is a load of cR*p.:D
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What a constructive post, maybe your post number is an indication of your IQ?

It has happened before, when people found out the earth was not the centre of the universe it was evil, people were called witches and burned at the stake for being chemists, electricity was considered evil when it first entered the household, when TV was introduced, it was evil, the computer, the internet, everything unknown to a majority but accepted by the few.

People fear things they do not understand and the sensationalist media feeds off this fear. One just have to take a look at the Rapport's frontpage every Sunday to see how low our society's interests have fallen.

Unfortunately none of these articles or MXit's campaigns at informing parents will succeed to change parents mindsets as parents do not know how to change their parenting methods to include online privacy. Everyone tells their kids not to talk to a stranger when they pull up to them, but very few parents teach their children not to talk to strangers online.

Fortunately, these articles will not affect the user base, who know what MXit is and how it works.
 
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