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
Why do the people who voted no not comment here?

I would really like to see some hill-billy type argument.
 
I personally use mxit and I like it.
That being said, i have younger cousin's who use mxit and they just know better than to
meet up with a stranger that somehow got their number.
The parents have taken the easy way out by blaming Mxit for them not checking their child's phone. Hell Mxit even warns new users not to chat with someone they don't know.
Problem is you can only build so much security into something before someone else
finds a way to get around it. It's like illegal downloading. Mxit does their part by giving
out the warning.

Parents not checking their kid's phones = FAIL
 
Get stuffed termie.

Let me motivate my answer.

I know a couple of guys that are on mxit.

The only reason they're there is to meet women.

They are constantly holding they're phones. Not leaving much time for other stuff.

I know a couple whose relationships went to ground as result of mxit.

How often have we not read of girls leaving home with creeps they met on mxit?

Do you read the papers term?

Concerning my IQ, I will happily have it tested and compared to yours. Arrange it and I'm there.

Would love to do that, could someone please arrange that?:D
 
Media got it all wrong, parent should just learn to be responsible. I use Mxit i can tell that iv seen teens exchanging porn videos and photos via the damn thing. Parents just keep an eye on them.
 
Adie said:
Crazy conservative parents who don't raise their children correctly and then blame something else when something goes wrong. Same old thing.
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They love blaming satan or the devil or other imaginary figures also.
 
rebel998 said:
I agree with you playboy1, but mxit should accept at least part of the blame.:D
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How ignorant can one be to say that a service provider must take part of the blame.:rolleyes: I blame all the ignorant, lazy parents in bringing up their children. I blame society with their ignorant mindset of not taking responsibility for their actions, they always want to blame everything else for their failures.:mad:
 
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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"Facebook girl kidnapped"
"MySpace girl kidnapped"
"MSN Messenger girl kidnapped"
"IRC girl kidnapped"

This **** has been happening since the dawn of the internet.

Basically, the formula is as follows:

Internet + Prowler (person who knows WTF is going on in the world) = Opportunist
Internet + Stupid person (usually coming of age, protected by mom/dad to not know what is actually going out there in la la land) = Opportunity

Opportunist + Opportunity = Profit
 
w1z4rd said:
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.
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Well it's not really a technology - it's an instant messaging/social communication service - its like calling Microsoft Word and Wordperfect different technologies while they're all really one type of application.

Mxit is like FB, Myspace and Twitter. It's good for kiddies but why a serious adult would want to use one of those services is beyond me. LinkedIn is the professional equivalent of FB. The rest are worthless.
 
JHatman said:
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.
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Even though your checklist is noble (and should work for someone that's paranoid). But here's my viewpoints on your points because I've been long enough to know how to operate as one of these guys who could potentially kidnap someone...

1) Trust is built before pictures are exchanged. Most of the time, you do see who you are talking to. This is often used to instill a false sense of trust
2) Most of the time the teens are usually the ones who brings up sex. People who know how to manipulate others online usually do not mention sex at all until the topic does come up. Again, it instills a sense of trust and is often used to coax the teen to think they're in control of their actions and the topics they chat about
3) Once the trust has been built up a simple "You know I won't do that! I'm not that type of person!" is all it will take to convince and coax the teen to send explicit photographs to the person on the other end. However, you will find that most people would rather meet up face to face and then have a camera handy rather than rely on these photos. Again, the issue of trust comes into play.
4) Even though this point is very valid, it is also the easiest information to get out of someone, especially if a little bit of trust has been built up.


If you can get the teen to engage you on topics you want them to chat about without them thinking you're forcing the topic on them (like sex) and get them to talk about their problems and "understand what they're going through" you often will get what you need out of them. It's all a matter of time.

It's not possible for anyone to convince any teen via a chat/social network to meet you almost instantly. This takes months if not years to evolve into a real relationship. Add into the fact that most teens are naturally rebellious and easy to make believe they're falling in love (or in fact, are in love) with a few simple techniques picked up on websites like doubleyourdating.com ... the teen mind isn't a match for someone looking for something and having a few years of experience on them.

The best thing you can do for your child is to educate them about the dangers of the world. Don't do it in a way that will make them fear life or things in it (that's just stupid) but just openly talk to them about these things. Most parents I've noticed don't mention these subjects mostly because they want the kid "to stay a kid" for as long as possible and "enjoy their childhood"

What use is enjoying your childhood if you're raped and murdered before you're an adult? Especially in today's time where meeting someone is very easy.

This I tell you out of experience. Not that I'm a prowler, but I could get Addresses, School names etc very easily. (Usually girls my same age when I was at school) and usually they were the ones to mention and talk about sex very often. I just fell into the same groove and before you know it, "I love you"

If I was a bad person like that, I could have easily turned it into something I wanted...

Education is key. Especially with the internet and technology these days.
 
I voted "No" because I don't use Mxit and couldn't care less if it's disabled. :)
 
The reason that the media often uses MXit's name in the sensational headlines, is because that was the medium of communication between the victim and the perpetrator.

If they met on Facebook, the media would have used that in the headline.

I would venture a guess that a lot more teens in SA use MXit than FB or Twitter, SIMPLY because more young people can afford a cellphone than a PC.
 
AcidRaZor said:
Even though your checklist is noble (and should work for someone that's paranoid). But here's my viewpoints on your points because I've been long enough to know how to operate as one of these guys who could potentially kidnap someone...

1) Trust is built before pictures are exchanged. Most of the time, you do see who you are talking to. This is often used to instill a false sense of trust
2) Most of the time the teens are usually the ones who brings up sex. People who know how to manipulate others online usually do not mention sex at all until the topic does come up. Again, it instills a sense of trust and is often used to coax the teen to think they're in control of their actions and the topics they chat about
3) Once the trust has been built up a simple "You know I won't do that! I'm not that type of person!" is all it will take to convince and coax the teen to send explicit photographs to the person on the other end. However, you will find that most people would rather meet up face to face and then have a camera handy rather than rely on these photos. Again, the issue of trust comes into play.
4) Even though this point is very valid, it is also the easiest information to get out of someone, especially if a little bit of trust has been built up.


If you can get the teen to engage you on topics you want them to chat about without them thinking you're forcing the topic on them (like sex) and get them to talk about their problems and "understand what they're going through" you often will get what you need out of them. It's all a matter of time.

It's not possible for anyone to convince any teen via a chat/social network to meet you almost instantly. This takes months if not years to evolve into a real relationship. Add into the fact that most teens are naturally rebellious and easy to make believe they're falling in love (or in fact, are in love) with a few simple techniques picked up on websites like doubleyourdating.com ... the teen mind isn't a match for someone looking for something and having a few years of experience on them.

The best thing you can do for your child is to educate them about the dangers of the world. Don't do it in a way that will make them fear life or things in it (that's just stupid) but just openly talk to them about these things. Most parents I've noticed don't mention these subjects mostly because they want the kid "to stay a kid" for as long as possible and "enjoy their childhood"

What use is enjoying your childhood if you're raped and murdered before you're an adult? Especially in today's time where meeting someone is very easy.

This I tell you out of experience. Not that I'm a prowler, but I could get Addresses, School names etc very easily. (Usually girls my same age when I was at school) and usually they were the ones to mention and talk about sex very often. I just fell into the same groove and before you know it, "I love you"

If I was a bad person like that, I could have easily turned it into something I wanted...

Education is key. Especially with the internet and technology these days.
Click to expand...

That how u kept yourself busy in Dubai? ;)
 
I was quite pissed when I saw the E News Primetime report.

What pissed me off the most was the idiot father saying that parents should "keep their children away from Mxit." What on EARTH gives HIM of all people the right to blame Mxit? By that logic he just accused himself of negligence, yet tried to shun to blame off on Mxit.

Utterly idiotic and very sensationalistic.
 
supersunbird said:
If you don't want you kid to have mxit give them a phone that can't do it... easy as that whinging parents out there...
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Not that easy. Peer pressure demands they have fancy phones.

I reckon with most of lifes dangers - like drugs, teen pregnancy, cults and the rest - all you can do is raise your kids to the best of your ability and hope for the best.

It's the media's job to sensastionliase though. Just look at how hectic the H1N1 stuff is.
 
Errant kids don't need Mxit or Facebook or any other social network to get up to mischief. Broken homes; poor parenting; peer influence and a host of other factors are probably to blame. The it-must-have-been-MXit attitude is just a lame excuse for a slew of social ills affecting teenagers. After all, teenage pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse - or teenage runaways aren't synonymous with the evolution of the Internet.
 
Odracir said:
How ignorant can one be to say that a service provider must take part of the blame.:rolleyes: I blame all the ignorant, lazy parents in bringing up their children. I blame society with their ignorant mindset of not taking responsibility for their actions, they always want to blame everything else for their failures.:mad:
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A lot of older parents are ignorant, if not scared of anything related to technology. While it's madness to blame MXit in this case, that does not mean that there are not things that they can do to help prevent these sort of cases from occurring. Yes parents should teach their kids better, but I do think that MXit, because their primary audience are children, should at least put some effort into verifying the ages of people using the service and make these ages open for people to see.
 
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