I was trying to ask a question, not make an assumption. Sorry if my phrasing was inept.
I lived in America for five years and I noticed that the fear-mongering was much more pervasive there, compared to Australia, where I grew up, and especially to Holland, where I live now.
I'm a scientist too. I love talking to kids about science. Their enthusiasm rubs off on me. I'm not looking to become friends with them though. Can't we distinguish between interaction and friendship?
"Can't we distinguish between interaction and friendship?"
The point of the article is that this distinction is very much blurred in the online world.
We have networks that support all kinds of social interaction, but we call the act of establishing interaction "friending" someone. Well, what does that mean? That you're going to spend all your time chatting about science? Or that you're talking about where the cool parties are.
The original article mentioned that the author checked out a young lady's blog after she sent him a friend request, and quickly found out more than he wanted to know about her personal life. I think that reflects different expectations of boundaries and privacy, even between 31 and 20 year olds.
Coincidentally I'm also a scientist who was brought up in Australia and has spent the last two and a half years in the US, so I can see we're coming at it from similar perspectives.
And actually I don't think that fearmongering (especially about pedophilia) is any more prominent in the US than in Australia, though I can't commend on Holland, where I wouldn't be surprised if it's less (since it's over-the-top in both Australia and the US).
You're right, if we distinguish between interaction and friendship there's nothing creepy about a 14-year-old interacting with a grown scientist. I may have misinterpreted your original comment.
Can't we distinguish between interaction and friendship?
I think that one of the benefits of the online world is that such distinguishing can be decided based on context rather than enforced by offline societal pressures. We don't need to fully throw out the old responses, because there is a grain of truth in their formation. But neither do we need to bring them wholesale into this new medium.
I lived in America for five years and I noticed that the fear-mongering was much more pervasive there, compared to Australia, where I grew up, and especially to Holland, where I live now.
I'm a scientist too. I love talking to kids about science. Their enthusiasm rubs off on me. I'm not looking to become friends with them though. Can't we distinguish between interaction and friendship?